The Ghana Britain Partnership for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GB-PIE) in the University of Cape Coast (UCC) organized a 2-Day Idea Series to encourage students who go into entrepreneurship to be much concerned about answering a need rather than the financial profit they will make.
The event, which took place on May 9 and 10, 2022 involved 3 talk sessions targeting students, lecturers and industry players and covered a variety of topics related to innovation and entrepreneurship.
Explaining the theme for the first talk session which was Value or Values: What should drive business? Chief Executive officer of Graydon LIoyd and a fellow at Durham University Business School in the United Kingdom, Robert J. Bell indicated that a business driven by values makes sustainable impacts as compared to when it is driven by just value.
He therefore urged students to prioritize values over value while developing solutions to societal problems.
“Values are more powerful than value and value are just pure play about profit. Values are all the issues of community and other things that people have to take account of in order to make success of a business.”
“…nobody buys a product that doesn’t answer a need so it is better to have something that is answering the pain that someone has and values really are when you are getting down to look at the kind of things that should matter going forward. The ideas of values… comply with more than just putting money in the bank account,” he added.
On his part, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship & Small Enterprise Development (CESED) Dr. Edward Nii Amar Amartefio indicated that the event came at an appropriate time particularly for students in the sciences because it will help them to discover new things in different fields as well as motivate them to be creative in tackling societal problems.
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“This is an interesting program and I’ve always supported students’ initiatives; things that make students think outside the box, and I think that is what GB-PIE stands for-to train students who are innovative and entrepreneurial so that they come out with new ideas.”
He urged students particularly students from the sciences to make use of the opportunity presented to them indicating that… “a lot of times, we find students remaining in the field that they find themselves but this is an opportunity for our students in a particular field to also have diversity; learn new things in new fields.
GB- PIE Project lead, Prof. Desmond Omane Acheampong also urged students to discard the notion that they are only in school to learn and pass exam.
He notes that “education is to equip you to identify societal problems and provide solutions. Thus, students… the things they study they should use them to solve problems.”
He further admonished students to identify their passion because he believes should they do that they will be able to think and come out with innovative ideas.
“You could be a medical student but your passion is in music or drama. When you involve yourself in those extra curriculum activities that is when the motivations to think outside the box comes and you are able identify issues to solve,” he said.
SOURCE: EMMANUELLA AMA GYAMFI
