By Jesse Ampah Owusu, GNA
Accra, Dec. 23, GNA – The New Africa Foundation, a self-funded non-governmental organisation, has launched a GHS1million University Challenge for student entrepreneurs across 10 universities in the country.
The Challenge will run its first edition in January 2024, where three to five student-member teams would be formed in each University to compete for the ultimate.
There would be specific business model projects for each University competing in the programme to explore out of which the overall student team would be declared and given the ultimate prize to start the business project.
Mr Atuobi Debrah Kissi, the Project Manger for the Foundation, said they were undertaking the challenge to unearth talents and entrepreneurial potentials among the students.
He said it was to support students develop businesses and entrepreneurial careers even before they came out of school.
He added that it would help address the case of graduates and youth unemployment in the country.
“The University Challenge spans beyond the traditional academic realm, extending from the development of effective governance structures to the establishment of thriving businesses and industrial platforms.
“The Challenge seeks to redefine the purpose of higher education and empower students to become not just job-seekers,
but creators of economic opportunities and leaders in their respective fields,” he said.
Mr Albert Kusi, Head of Youth Project at the Foundation, said they were focusing on university students because they believed they had a lot of business ideas and innovations which needed to be supported.
He stressed that the issue of youth unemployment could be addressed when the youth were provided with entrepreneurship education and supported to create their own businesses and innovations.
Mr Kusi added that the Challenge would be held annually and would be opened up to more universities in the coming years and even beyond the shores of the country.
The 10 universities the project is opened to include the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Mines and Energy, University of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Development Studies and Central University.
GNA