He said statistics indicated that 52 per cent of all new businesses were owned by young people, a development which proved that when given the right support and environment, more young people could get into entrepreneurship and succeed.

“In line with the government’s policy to drive entrepreneurship, we have, in the last three years, provided GH¢150 million to support young businesses. We cannot develop the country without young people,” he said at the launch of the second edition of the Graphic Business Tertiary Business Sense Challenge (TBSC) in Accra yesterday.

The Ministry of Business Development, he said, was this year supporting start-ups with GH¢50 million in a bid to provide a rich and varied space where risks were minimised and well managed for entrepreneurship to thrive in the country.

Dr Awal said the government had, in the last three years, provided a stable economic environment for businesses to succeed and cited the reduction in inflation and the successive growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as examples.

“Without a stable economic environment, no business will succeed. I will urge you all to persevere and not give up, as you will not succeed by giving up.

“Remember that you have a partner, which is the Ministry of Business Development, and we will continue to invest in you,” he said.

TBSC

The second edition of the competition will be held at the TV3 Executive Theatre at Kanda in Accra from February 24 to March 5, this year.

It will be held on the theme: “Developing business minds – The Hot Seat”.

Nineteen universities, both public and private, are taking part in this year’s competition.

The TBSC, which aims at developing the cognitive processes of business students to help them build successful business careers in the future, is an initiative of the Graphic Business newspaper.

It also seeks to increase the knowledge base of students and improve the practicality of what they are taught in school.

The maiden edition, which was held last year, brought together students from tertiary business schools whose knowledge in various business subjects was put to test.

The University of Cape Coast (UCC) emerged winner of the maiden edition.

Remaining relevant

The Director Marketing of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Franklin Sowa, said the company introduced the competition as part of its efforts to remain relevant, as well as contribute its quota to producing students who would build successful business careers in the future.

He said aside from feeding its customers with authentic news, the company was also positioning its brands to be key sources of information for the various market segments it served.

The Graphic Business, he said, had been positioned to set the agenda for business and it was doing so through initiatives such as the TBSC, which brings students together to test their knowledge in business.

Dynamics of the contest

The Editor of the Graphic Business, Mr Theophilus Yartey, said the second edition of the contest would be an improvement over the first.

He said the competition, which is scheduled to take place over a week, would consist of four rounds of questioning.

The first round, he said, would involve questions on theories, while the second would look at practical questions involving calculations, with the third being the problem of the day, while the fourth round would dwell on simple but tricky true-or-false questions, riddles, as well as questions from the Graphic Business.

The competition, he said, would be recorded and replayed at a later time on TV3.

Sponsors

The Ministry of Business Development and corporate institutions are sponsoring the 2020 TBSC.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) are providing technical support for the contest.

Corporate sponsors include the Accra Brewery Ltd (ABL), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Glico Life Insurance, Twellium Industrial Company Limited and CompuGhana.

Media partners are YFM and Media General, operators of TV3.

Mr Yartey expressed his appreciation to the various sponsors of the competition, saying: “Your support is testimony to your belief in the need to bridge the gap between academia and business, as well as help provide a platform to develop the entrepreneurial minds of students in tertiary institutions.”