Entrepreneurship workshop for aspiring businessmen held
An entrepreneurship workshop for young people who want to invest in themselves was held at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) conference hall in Accra on Saturday.
Advertisement
The workshop attracted 200 students, orphans, budding entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs from Ghana and some Africans based in the United Kingdom.
It was organised by the GoGetters, based in the United Kingdom. It is a social initiative organisation that supports young entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa.
The workshop afforded aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell their ideas and plans to become successful entrepreneurs.
A Minister of State in charge of Financial and Allied Institutions in the Office of the President, Mr Fiifi Kwetey, who spoke at the workshop, urged the present generation to strive not to repeat the mistakes of the old generation that had a chronic sense of insecurity.
He said the government created a non-partisan fund to support young people with innovative ideas to set up their own businesses and was expecting good proposals from young entrepreneurs for a sustainable and skilful job.
He explained that the old generation had the mindset of grabbing little things for themselves instead of thinking about the total development of their nation and that had retarded the progress of the African continent.
Mr Kwetey described the footballer who acquired several fleet of vehicles, spread money on young girls instead of investing, the contractor who spent his money on vehicles instead constructing the road he had been contracted to do and others who acquired little money for themselves and their families to the detriment of their nation as examples of chronic insecurity and total vanity.
Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, a lecturer of GIMPA, said the workshop was also to prepare young graduates to set up their own businesses rather than relying on government for non-existing jobs.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to support such young graduates who wanted to set up their own businesses with tax rebates and other incentives to enable their businesses to grow.
The Chief Executive Officer and Founder of GoGetters, Mr Alieu Fofanah, said the workshop was to get aspiring young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and successful entrepreneurs to start talking to enable them to help the aspiring ones to execute their ideas.
A co-founder of GoGetters and the Chief Executive Officer of Kokoriah Company, Mr Tola James-Odukoya, said the target of their organisation was to create a network and working relationship among investors, entrepreneurs, and university students with bright and innovative ideas.
He said they had organised similar workshops in South Africa and intended organising the same thing in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and other African countries, with the objective of seeing the growth and success of Africa.
Mr Kwame Boakye, a student of GIMPA, said he had several challenges in setting up his own Information Technology (IT) business but the workshop had taught him a lot in terms of writing business proposals and linking up with other investors in the IT business.