DAFI scholars receive training in entrepreneurship
A number of African refugees resident in Ghana are pursuing various programmes in 19 tertiary institutions across the country, thanks to the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI), also known as the DAFI Programme.
Known as the DAFI Scholars, the 82 students are made up of 47 males and 35 females from 13 African countries.
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Formed in 1992, the German Government initiative provides almost 100 per cent grants in partnership with a number of private sector organisations and foundations through the Foreign Office to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to young refugees to attend tertiary institutions in their host countries or their country of return.
Bishop MacAnaan giving a presentation on Leadership
The DAFI grants, considered the only support for refugees to continue their education, has supported more than 15,500 young refugees to pursue their undergraduate degrees in refugee-hosting countries across the world.
GRNA
Recently, at the Ghana Registered Nurses Association’s (GRNA) Hostel at Shiashie, Flowers School of Technology and Management (FSTM), in collaboration with the Volda University College of Norway and the Christian Council of Ghana, under the auspices of the UNHCR, facilitated a training workshop for DAFI Scholars on entrepreneurship.
The training was geared towards equipping the students, some of whom have completed their tertiary education, to gain practical insights into the subject matter as well as master the tools to develop and own businesses that would tide them over wherever they might find themselves.
Prof Bjorn Tadford of Volda University, Norway taking the DAFI scholars through his presentation on Entrepreneurship.
The Director of Advocacy at the Christian Council of Ghana, Mrs Catherine Lawluvi, welcomed the students to the programme while Dr David Ako Odoi, President of FSTM, introduced the theme for the programme, which was: “Entrepreneurship in Education and Business (Train, Start, Run and Grow)” and urged the students to make the best out of the opportunities that had come their way.
Presentation
A member of the Board of Governance of FSTM, Bishop Samuel MacAnaan, in a presentation on: “Leadership- A Social Responsibility’’, pointed out the importance of leadership and how its proper practice enhanced ones activities.
A consultant, Dr Sayuti Baba, took the students through a highly engaging and intensive session on the fundamental principles of entrepreneurship and its role in society and how the students could position themselves for entrepreneurship and business.
Melanie Flowers of Flowers School of Management and Technology
A professor at the Faculty of Social Science and History at the Volda University, Norway, Professor Bjon Gunnar Tafjord, took them through the final part of entrepreneurship, together with the Chief Executive Officer of FSTM, Mr Micheal Flowers, who took them through pointers, built by Bishop MacAnaan, and encouraged them to put their innovations on paper in teams for future endeavours.
The Registrar and Vice-President, Administration, FSMT, Ms Melanie Flowers, and the Director of Information Technology and Business Systems, Mr Felix Afeti, also gave presentations on how to build skills of the DAFI Scholars for their future.
The lecturers also took turns to advice the students on the need to be law-abiding wherever they found themselves, be humble and study hard in order to be good citizens of their countries and the world.