‘University education must be entrepreneurship-based’

The 2015 HFC Bank - Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Entrepreneurship Clinic, has been launched in Kumasi with a call on Ghanaian universities to work assiduously to equip their students with entrepreneurial skills.

“It is the responsibility of authorities to engineer skills-acquisition programmes designed to empower students with the technical know-how and expertise in business”, Mr. Samuel Yaw Akomea, Head of the KNUST Centre for Business Development (CBD), said.

He said entrepreneurship training provided avenues for students to venture into self-employment and that considering their educational background they could easily also apply the knowledge acquired for successful business ventures.

The six-week Clinic, targeting final-year students, was put together by the CBD and HFC Bank, to encourage the participants to set up their own private enterprises.

It was instituted about ten years ago as part of efforts to harness the business potentials in the students for meaningful lives after their graduation.

Topics being treated include “How to Start a Business Venture”, “Networking”, “Dealing with the Challenges in Business Start-ups”, “Business Risks and Management”, “Packaging and Marketing”, “Business and Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)”, among others.

Mr. Akomea said the programme had lined up seasoned and well-established entrepreneurs, who would be expected to mentor the participants in their aspirations to establishing their own businesses.

The CBD, he said, has instituted a Business Incubator to develop business ideas of students into viable ventures, saying so far, 25 companies had been set up since it was established.

Mr. Sarfo Kantanka, an entrepreneur, challenged the participants to have the courage to start their own business ventures to improve the economic status.

He tasked them to form partnerships to fully develop their business potentials.