Accra, Nov. 15, - Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu,
Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana, has lauded the Government for taking bold
steps to advance entrepreneurship in Ghana by instituting the National
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP).
NEIP was set-up by the government
with a seed fund of $10 million, to be increased to $100 million through
private sector partners.
He urged the leadership of the
programme to ensure that the funds serve their appropriate purpose, and that
entrepreneurs receive the financial and technical support to build their
ventures.
Prof. Owusu gave the commendation
during a Town Hall on the Art of Entrepreneurship meeting, which forms part of
the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) - Ghana.
The GEW - Ghana, seeks to unleash
innovators and job creators who would launch start-ups that would bring ideas
to life, drive economic prosperity and job creation.
This year, the GEW - Ghana is
being organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Business Development,
with support from the British Council, Ghana.
“Let me put on record that
entrepreneurship is not a preserve for business school students and graduates;
every students or graduates without a doubt could be an entrepreneur regardless
of which Department or School he/she belongs to.
“It is the desire of the
University of Ghana to encourage all students to be interested in venture
creation. To this end, I would like to challenge our students to think about
becoming job creators and not job-seekers after school as the way forward to
overcoming the unemployment menace and to achieving economic excellence in the
country,” the Vice-Chancellor added.
Prof. Owusu said: “On this score,
I am advocating the establishment of an ‘Entrepreneurship Prize’ in the
University. This, I believe, will promote entrepreneurship competition among
all students across the University. The idea is to have, at least five best
ideas supported with start-up capital every year”.
He noted that the University
would work, with Global Entrepreneurship Network, Ghana and other stakeholder,
to realise this laudable dream.
He said that the concept of
entrepreneurship in general had gained global currency in the development
discourse over the past two decades; adding that across the world, many
universities and colleges developed programmes in innovation and
entrepreneurship.
He said this global trend had
fuelled the recognition that entrepreneurship played a crucial role in economic
growth and job creation.
“It is a fact that, Ghana is
currently grappling with youth unemployment. Many graduates from our
universities, colleges and training schools find it difficult to find jobs;
consequently, government is exploring ways of solving the unemployment issues
using various initiatives and options,” he said.
“The question that arises
therefore, is, could self-employment and entrepreneurship be a possible career
path for the teeming unemployed youth of the country? Many would agree that
taking the entrepreneurship education path may well present a potential remedy
for addressing the unemployment situation,” he said.
He said the prosperity of Ghana
strongly depended on the creation of vibrant enterprise culture among its
graduates.
Prof Owusu said since education
was the greatest single predictor of individual wealth creation and civic
participation, colleges needed to create or develop programmes that were
applicable to their indigenous settings.
“In view of this, the University
of Ghana is taking bold steps to take entrepreneurship to a new height, by
dedicating a unit to that discipline, and rolling out programmes in
entrepreneurship,” he said.
“It is my wish that sooner than
later, this University will be listed among the entrepreneurial universities in
the world.”
Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, the
Minister of Business Development, assured the Vice Chancellor that the Ministry
would support the establishment of the fund.
He called for deeper
collaboration between academia and industry; explaining that the deeper the
collaboration the better the start-ups, and the better the business guide that
could be produced.
"If we can have 10
businesses in Ghana supporting 20 entrepreneurs every year to grow successful
Ghanaian business icons, we would have made Ghana a better place," Mr Awal
said.
"Businesses should help at
least ten to 20 young businessmen and women, within ten years we are going to
have over 100 to 200 strong job system that can compete at least in the West
Africa space. Entrepreneurship has to do with mindset, believe it, you can do
it," he added.
He said Ghana had stabilised its
energy sector and that it was now exporting power to neighbouring countries.
He said in the near future power
prices in the country would come down to empower businesses to grow.
GNA
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