Students pursuing tertiary education have been tasked to plan their future career prospects while in school, and not when they have completed their programmes.

This has been identified as the surest way of dealing with the unemployment problem facing the country.

This advice was offered by speakers at the “Surviving After School Conference” on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, organised by the Agro Mindset Organisation, in collaboration with Invest in Africa and the Centre for Business Development, KNUST.

The conference was under the theme: “Surviving After School; The Human And Social Capital Needed”.

Speakers at the 3rd Surviving After School Conference included Randy Osae-Bediako of Kharis Media Ltd, Prince Boadu of TEDxKNUST, Dr William Okyere Frempong of The Hud Group and Rev. David Quansah, the Head Pastor of Mid-Country Chapel.

The conference has the objective of developing the business acumen of students, and to help mature their enterprise skills. Close to one thousand students participated.

Executive Director of the Agro Mindset Organisation, David Asare Asiamah intimated: “At this point where pursuing university education seemed to have lost lustre and is leading our nation down the path of despondency, the agro-focused entrepreneurship group, Agro Mindset Organisation, which works with a primary vision of assisting young people to further develop their school knowledge and skills both within and beyond the academic environment, saw the need to focus on the Human and Social Capital needs of young people.”

He observed the educational system has been failing in preparing most graduates for the world of work; hence the need for students to take their destinies into their own hands and plan their future. “It remains a fact that some graduates from our universities are not adequately prepared to make any contribution to industry or do anything meaningful with their lives but it has taken our universities too long to come to this realisation”, he said.  

Speaking on the topic: “Bridging the gap between idea conception and social relevance”, Mr. Asiamah emphasized entrepreneurship as the key to dealing with the nation’s unemployment situation, and challenged the students to venture into private business after school. “Entrepreneurship is not a fancy title for talkers but a deliberate responsibility embraced by doers”, he said.

The “Surviving After School” conference adopted the sustainable livelihood framework proposed by the Department for International Development (DfID) which presents the main factors that affect people’s livelihoods, and the typical relationships between Human Capital, Social Capital, Natural Capital, Physical Capital and Financial Capital. The conference gave evidence and understanding to young people on the need to build an indispensable Human capital and Social Capital towards their future.

The conference was used as the platform to launch Agro Mindset’s Mentoring and Training Program.

By this, selected participants of the Conference will have the opportunity to be mentored on a personal level by renowned and experienced entrepreneurs and academics during their tertiary education period, following which they will be assisted in tremendous ways in starting up their business career.

The conference is part of the award winning organisation’s objective of attracting the youth to business, so they can start an innovation marketplace to launch new ideas.

The organisation supports entrepreneurs with advisory services and mentoring. It encourages young people to think innovatively about how they can create jobs for themselves, instead of seeking non existing jobs.