THE Rector of the Tamale Polytechnic (T-Poly), Dr Seidu Peligah has commended members of the T-Poly team of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) for their ingenuity and flair for entrepreneurship.
He commendation at the recently held first round of the 2010 SIFE Ghana National Competition held in Accra.
The competition provided a platform for SIFE teams of various campuses to make a presentation on their outreach projects, which are judged by business leaders based on specific criteria.
The projects being awarded are those that create economic opportunities for other people by helping them acquire the requisite skills to operate a successful business, such as business ethics, financial literacy skills and entrepreneurial skills.
These projects serve as working laboratories through which the participating students develop confidence, leadership skills, teamwork, business acumen and communication.
The T-poly team emerged winners after it made some brilliant presentations on four outreach projects which it embarked on. These are Woodlot establishment, Sanitation management, Biscuit making and Guinea -fowl rearing.
Among these projects, the one on Biscuit making impressed the judges greatly since it creates opportunities for many small scale business women to engage in this business and make good returns.
The team trained 25 women to make biscuits from roasted groundnut powder, known in Dagomba parlance as ‘kulikuli zim’. The biscuits are packed in 100 grams and sold in the market for 50Gp.
Initially, the women were only engaged in the selling of the groundnut powder without adding any value. The project therefore provided them the opportunity to add value and increase their profits, which, according to the team, had consequently risen by 40 per cent.
Dr Peligah observed that one way to tackle graduate unemployment in the country is for tertiary institutions to challenge their students to undertake entrepreneurial projects as part of their training.
According to him, such a move would stimulate the thinking capacities of students and help them acquire valuable experiences that could assist them greatly to start their own businesses after graduation.
He said instead of young graduates roaming the streets searching for white-collar jobs, they would rather be searching for prospective partners and institutions to collaborate with to develop fresh concepts and products.
“I feel very honoured that my students have achieved this feat and are showing signs of doing more,” he stated.
The Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Mr Mohammed Abdul-Aziz said the success chalked by the students demonstrated the capabilities of polytechnic students.
He said soon, T-poly would introduce a product fair to showcase the products and exploits of its students for the public to appreciate what went on at the polytechnics.
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