However, in so doing, they must ensure that their entrepreneurial activities does not negatively impact their responsibilities as teachers.

This they could do by finding a balance between their entrepreneurial pursuits and their responsibilities in the classroom.

The Ablekuma Central Municipal Director of Education, Monica Ansaba Kumahor, gave the advice at a teachers’ durbar held at the Mataheko Perez Chapel.

Durbar

The durbar, an initiative of the Circuit School Improvement Support Officer (SISO), Emelia Anane-Frempong, attracted all teachers within the Mataheko '02' Circuit.

It was aimed at bringing the teachers together to share ideas and also network to enhance their duties.

Held on the theme "Teacher Entrepreneurship - Turning Passion into Profit," the event provided teachers with valuable insights into entrepreneurship and how they could turn their passion into extra-income earning ventures, especially in this digital era.

Teachers at the durbar

The teachers were taken through a session of coming up with business ideas and unique selling propositions, presented by Mr Boadu Appiah who stressed the importance of identifying a problem and creating a service or product that people were willing to pay for.

There was also the Professional Learning Community (PLC) session, which was moderated by William Damptey, with the discussion focusing on the topic of cyclic events.

Mrs Kumahor, who was represented by a senior officer of the Ablekuma Central Municipal Education Directorate, Divine Bobie, encouraged the teachers to venture into entrepreneurship as it provided the needed extra income to support their homes in these challenging times.

She said with a lot of small businesses taking advantage of technology to thrive, teachers had no excuse not to join the train.

“From simple things as snacks and pastries to any other legitimate business, people are doing good business using technology to promote, sell and deliver. It is not out of place for us as teachers to also have a second income-generating activity using the same means.

It is never a bad thing having an extra source of income and that business could even be our new jobs when we have long retired from the classroom,” she stated.

“What we have to do is identify what it is that we want to do and how to make it thrive.

We can manage the time well in order not to affect our core job as teachers,” Mrs Kumahor stated.