The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has launched an entrepreneurship training programme for outgoing final-year students of the university.The six-week programme, dubbed,’’ Entrepreneurship Clinic”, is meant to provide entrepreneurship awareness for the final-year students as they move out of school.

The programme was planned and organised by a committee set up by the provost of the College of Art and Social Sciences and the Centre for Business Development (CBD), with the full support of the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor W. O. Ellis.

The course seeks to educate students in all aspects of entrepreneurship and small business management and seeks to throw light on professional and business ethics.

In his welcome address, the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Donkor , said,’’ KNUST sees the imparting of entrepreneurship skills to its student as a vital component in its training. That is why the KNUST school of business (KSB) and lately the CBD were established to champion this cause.’’

‘’With the increasing rate of unemployment among university graduates, we need not be told that entrepreneurship training is a viable and the most potent solution to this canker. Universities and research institutions have of late come under attack for not playing their rightful role in job creation, efficient research work, training of the right calibre of personnel for industry, among others.

‘’KNUST sees the re-introduction of this programme and the establishment of the KSB and the CBD as  proof of the fact that academia can no longer sit in the Ivory Tower but champion their drive toward  entrepreneurship among our students, the promotion of SMEs, innovation and commercialisation of research, among  others’’ he said.

The programme will give students the urge to start their own business after graduation.Seasoned business giants, including Dr kofi  Amoah of citizen Kofi fame, Mr Kwabena Kesseh (Kessben), Mr Ato Conduah, among others, are expected to share their experiences in entrepreneurship and business development with the students.

At the maiden session of the programme on January 27,2012, an accomplished entrepreneur, Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kama Group of Companies, spoke on, ‘’Prospects and challenges of entrepreneurship and business opportunities in Ghana ‘’ .

He explained to the student how he started his business without any capital and urged student to start identifying business plans for the commercially oriented opportunities.

The programme will be organised annually, with the objective of addressing the problem of graduate unemployment in the country.

Source: Daily Graphic

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