The Sunyani Technical University, through its Business/Entrepreneurship Development and External Funding Unit, is setting up Business and Entrepreneurship Development Center (BEDC), an entrepreneurship hub with support from Goil Ghana Limited.
This is in response to the increasing number of students showing interest and enthusiasm in setting up their own businesses and creating jobs for others after school.
The entrepreneurship hub is aimed at supporting students, businesses and other innovators to recognize opportunities, develop, launch, and commercialize their ideas and motivate them to bring out their entrepreneurship skills.
These were contained in a speech delivered on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor the university, Prof. Ing. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah during an entrepreneurship awareness seminar held in the school’s main auditorium.
The seminar, which was on the theme, “changing minds, from job seekers to job creators; adopting entrepreneurship as a career option” was well attended by students and staff of the university.
The Vice-Chancellor noted that since entrepreneurship was one of the most trending fields with vast scope for self-employment and innovation, the Entrepreneurship Center would motivate students to be dedicated entrepreneurs while the centre strives to narrow the gap between industry expectations and student capabilities.
He said the center would focus on “guiding students to go into self-employment and thereby create “An Employer Culture” i.e. is instead of being job seekers, our students would be Job Providers.”
Prof Adinkrah-Appiah added that the entrepreneurship hub would endeavor to become a catalyst in facilitating emergence of competent first generation entrepreneurs.
“This can be achieved through the transitioning of existing Small and Medium Enterprises into growth oriented enterprises through skills development training, awareness creation Programs, research and institution building”, he said.
Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah was grateful to thank our collaborative partners, Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), for providing enormous support in initiating the setting up of the hub, and also organizing the seminar.
Mr. Franklin Owusu-Karikari, the Business Support Director of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovations Programme (NEIP) commended the University for setting up the Business and Entrepreneurship Development Center, adding that the move was responsive to contemporary trend in preparing students for the job market.
“The public sector is able to absorb just five percent of the total number of graduates churned out each year”, he stated; and disabused the minds of the students and unemployed graduates that the public sector was capable of absorbing them all.
He therefore encouraged them to be innovative and strive to discover ways of generating income for themselves and for others.
“The reality is that, your certificate is no longer enough to get you a job – whether you had First Class, Second Class or Third Class at your graduation….the world is no longer waiting for straight jacket professionals”, Mr. Owusu Karikari said.
The NEIP official tasked the participants to be proactive job seekers by identifying business opportunities to pursue, run their own businesses and be financially independent rather than moving round with their application letters and CV.
Two distinguished and entrepreneurs – Mr. Obeng Korang Manson, who is the CEO of Xtrym Consortium and Madam Florence Ofori-Agyeman, CEO of Bakerz Relish, both shared their success stories to the participants.
Among those who graced the occasion were the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the university, Dr. Justice Solomon Korantwi-Barimah; the Registrar, Mr. S.A Obour and Dr. Jones Lewis Arthur, the Director of the International Relations and Institutional Linkage Directorate of STU.