Good news for students as plans to convert project works at varsities into business ventures underway

The practice where Project Works usually submitted by final-year students of tertiary institutions before graduation which usually end up on shelves would soon become a thing of the past as government, through the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), would soon outdoor a programme meant to convert such works into actionable and profitable business ventures.

Under the programme, each university would be required to select and submit its top ten best project works to NEIP.

Authors of the selected project works would then be contacted and taken through training on their chosen projects after which they would be given start-up capital to bring their dreams into reality.

Mr. Franklin Owusu Karikari, the Director of Business Support at the NEIP, disclosed this at the official launch of Sunyani Technical University’s Entrepreneurship Hub and Business Ideas Incubation Centre in Sunyani.

It is, among others, expected to empower students of the University through skills development, training and awareness creation as well as shape business ideas.

The centre is being managed by the Business/Entrepreneurship Development and External Funding Unit (BEDEFU) of the University and operates in collaboration with the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme and the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), formerly the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).

Mr. Franklin Owusu Karikari, the Director of Business Support at the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) commended STU for setting up the centre to help nurture and train young people to come out with innovative and business ideas.

He announced plans by the NEIP to out-door a programme meant to convert Project Works by final-year university students into actionable and profitable business ventures.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor of STU, Prof. Justice Solomon Korantwi-Barimah, added his voice to call on the youth to think outside the box and come out with problem-solving ideas which make meaningful impacts on the country and the world at large.

He pledged management’s commitment to efforts aimed at empowering students to be creative and to attain greater height in their academic and career pursuits.

In a message, the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology, Dr. Jones Lewis Arthur noted that the Business Ideas Incubation Centre seeks to become a catalyst in facilitating the emergence of competent first-generation entrepreneurs and transition of existing SMEs into growth-oriented enterprises through entrepreneurship education, training, research and institution building.

“Students connected to the Centre would be counseled to take-up innovative projects in their career, for which the students will be supported with technical expert counseling to execute the project, access funds required to execute the project, and continuous monitoring to complete the business model”, he explained.

Earlier in his welcoming remarks, the Head of BEDEFU, Mr. Kwabena Adjei, underscored the critical role of the centre in shaping students to become job creators and not job seekers.