Over the years, students and unemployed graduates have been admonished to adopt entrepreneurial opportunities amidst the challenge of the increasing number of unemployed youth in the country.

The phenomenon where students graduating from school and struggling to find decent jobs has become increasingly prevalent among the youth in the country.

In a bid to tackle this issue, the government has introduced several measures aimed at improving the youth unemployment rate by encouraging entrepreneurship.

It is in line with this that the University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) has partnered with key stakeholders to tour some selected universities across the country to encourage them to take entrepreneurship seriously to build themselves economically.

The stakeholders include the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), and Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) among others.

At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Chapter of the tour, the CEO of Ghana Enterprise Agency, Kosi Yankey Ayeh advised the students to be disciplined and to take up available opportunities and also embrace failure as it is part of growth.

CEO of Ghana Enterprise Agency, Kosi Yankey Ayeh

“You will fail at a point so you need to embrace failure as a stepping stone. It is okay to fail but what did you learn out of that? How do you use that to redefine the next opportunity? If you don’t fail, you can’t keep going as it makes you stronger and allows you to dream big. You have to surround yourself with mentors and supporters,” the CEO of GEA advised.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, the president of the University Student Association of Ghana, Patrick Kusi Adu called on students to take advantage of available opportunities to enhance their entrepreneurship skills.

“We have NEIP with the business innovation called the u-starter programme. Where we have a lot of students or youths who are beneficiaries of this programme and so I am encouraging the youth in our various tertiary institutions.

“Not only the tertiary institutions, senior high schools and those who are not schooling at all, they should take advantage of this project that the government has put in place. So, that they can also have their visions defined or get these opportunities from these agencies.

“When we went to the University of Cape Coast, we had about five students who have been promised or who have been supported by national entrepreneurship innovation programs through the u-starter program.

“So, it’s going on. If you are not aware, through this means, we are encouraging every youth that, kindly have access to this information. Walk to their offices and enquire about it and how to be part of this project, this innovative programme and enrol yourself. Then you can be a beneficiary,” the president of USAG, Patrick Kusi Adu said.

He also debunked reports of bureaucratic abuse of authority in applying for such programs and called on students to not be discouraged from taking advantage of the initiatives.

“It’s not tedious to apply for this or enrol yourself in this project. Personally, I had an encounter whereby I had to assist a student or a youth to apply for the U- U-Starter program. It’s just a link, you just click the link and fill the forms. The only thing you have to do personally is to come to the offices and sign the guarantor and then that’s all. So, it’s not something tedious or so much about.

“In fact, we are students that’s why we are tertiary institutions even if there’s any documentation or process, we should be able to have the tenacity to enrol ourselves. And pass through this process, then we have our freedom, and we get what we actually need from these agencies. It’s there, in fact, the opportunities are numerous,” the USAG president added.