NGO organises entrepreneurship training for JHS students, Monday, February 14, 2011, pg 46
Compassion Outreach International, a faith-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has organised an entrepreneurship training programme for final-year junior high school students of the Believers International School.
The one-day training workshop, which involved a lecture on developing entrepreneurial minds, was to help provide the students with entrepreneurship training.
Speaking during the programme, the Co-ordinator of Projects for the NGO, Mr Kofi Opoku Ababio, urged the students to adopt positive attitudes towards job creation and not job seeking.
He defined entrepreneurship as a mindset and art of finding creative and profitable solutions to problems.
“Every successful entrepreneur has been someone who has been able to identify a problem and come up with a solution before somebody else did,” he explained.
Explaining who an entrepreneur was, Mr Ababio said “an entrepreneur is a person who habitually creates and innovates to build something of recognised value around perceived opportunities”.
He challenged the students to aspire to be creative and innovative.
The Chief Executive Officer of Compassion Outreach International, who is also the Head Pastor of the Believers Bible Christian Church, Reverend Peter Hemeng, lamented that the youth lacked confidence in themselves and were not ready to take risks.
“Many of our young people view entrepreneurship as a risk that is not worth taking. They are undoubtedly discouraged by the lack of capital to start something, the unfriendly business environment and their own lack of proper education and technical know-how,” he observed.
Rev. Hemeng called on well-established business persons and renowned entrepreneurs to help foster a new culture of entrepreneurship among the Ghanaian youth.
He noted that the core philosophy of the organisation was to positively impact the greatest number of young people in as many places as possible with programmes that were effective and sustainable.
The students were later divided into groups and assisted by staff of the organisation to brainstorm on and discuss the humble beginnings of some renowned Ghanaian entrepreneurs. One notable example that came up for discussion was Mrs. Elizabeth Afriyie Maldini, the owner of Elsa Foods.
Realising that a lot of foodstuffs was wasted on farms because of lack of preservation and to minimise post-harvest losses, she started processing plantain and cassava and most local crops into flour.
She also made them into traditional ethnic foods for quick cooking and food preservation.
That she did by prolonging the shelf life of most of those perishable foods.
Mr Ababio reminded the students that Mrs Maldini started processing plantain and cassava and most local crops into flour after gaining considerable experience in commercial pasta production and marketing.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the students to acquire education and the requisite technical know-how in order to become successful entrepreneurs.
While expressing her profound gratitude to the organisers of the workshop, the Proprietress of the school, Mrs Eva Vera Hemeng, advised the students to apply themselves seriously to their studies.
She cautioned them to eschew laziness, adding that self-discipline and perseverance were top qualities that made successful entrepreneurs.
The one-day training workshop, which involved a lecture on developing entrepreneurial minds, was to help provide the students with entrepreneurship training.
Speaking during the programme, the Co-ordinator of Projects for the NGO, Mr Kofi Opoku Ababio, urged the students to adopt positive attitudes towards job creation and not job seeking.
He defined entrepreneurship as a mindset and art of finding creative and profitable solutions to problems.
“Every successful entrepreneur has been someone who has been able to identify a problem and come up with a solution before somebody else did,” he explained.
Explaining who an entrepreneur was, Mr Ababio said “an entrepreneur is a person who habitually creates and innovates to build something of recognised value around perceived opportunities”.
He challenged the students to aspire to be creative and innovative.
The Chief Executive Officer of Compassion Outreach International, who is also the Head Pastor of the Believers Bible Christian Church, Reverend Peter Hemeng, lamented that the youth lacked confidence in themselves and were not ready to take risks.
“Many of our young people view entrepreneurship as a risk that is not worth taking. They are undoubtedly discouraged by the lack of capital to start something, the unfriendly business environment and their own lack of proper education and technical know-how,” he observed.
Rev. Hemeng called on well-established business persons and renowned entrepreneurs to help foster a new culture of entrepreneurship among the Ghanaian youth.
He noted that the core philosophy of the organisation was to positively impact the greatest number of young people in as many places as possible with programmes that were effective and sustainable.
The students were later divided into groups and assisted by staff of the organisation to brainstorm on and discuss the humble beginnings of some renowned Ghanaian entrepreneurs. One notable example that came up for discussion was Mrs. Elizabeth Afriyie Maldini, the owner of Elsa Foods.
Realising that a lot of foodstuffs was wasted on farms because of lack of preservation and to minimise post-harvest losses, she started processing plantain and cassava and most local crops into flour.
She also made them into traditional ethnic foods for quick cooking and food preservation.
That she did by prolonging the shelf life of most of those perishable foods.
Mr Ababio reminded the students that Mrs Maldini started processing plantain and cassava and most local crops into flour after gaining considerable experience in commercial pasta production and marketing.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the students to acquire education and the requisite technical know-how in order to become successful entrepreneurs.
While expressing her profound gratitude to the organisers of the workshop, the Proprietress of the school, Mrs Eva Vera Hemeng, advised the students to apply themselves seriously to their studies.
She cautioned them to eschew laziness, adding that self-discipline and perseverance were top qualities that made successful entrepreneurs.
well i will say is great way in starting a new thing. it is high time our youths do things on their own rather than been there waiting for government.read Forbes youths are creating business where they are even employing the older ones. Don't think am talking about Europe, just Africa, i believe we can make it. am also trying to organize week programs about entrepreneurship for students in Agona swedru. thank you
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