The Chief Executive Officer of Pinkberry Ghana, Dr Kobbina Tuyee Awuah, has strongly condemned the rising tide of violence and misconduct disrupting inter-school athletic competitions (popularly known as 'Interco'), warning that students are rapidly losing sight of the invaluable networking opportunities the platform is structurally designed to offer.

In recent years, these highly anticipated senior high school sports festivals—which historically served as celebratory hubs for youth talent—have been increasingly marred by violent clashes, vandalism, and disciplinary breakdowns among rival student bodies.

Featuring as a guest on the educational television programme The Career Trail (Season 4) on Joy Learning TV and Joy News, the prominent entrepreneur and corporate leader expressed worry over the trend.

Reflecting on his own formative years as a student at Opoku Ware School (OWASS) in Kumasi, he described the Interco games of his era as intense but fundamentally healthy, built on a solid foundation of mutual respect and constructive rivalry.

“There was healthy rivalry during Interco. It was fantastic,” Dr Awuah recalled with nostalgia.

The Corporate Dividend of School Sports

The Pinkberry chief executive argued that beyond the immediate quest for track-and-field medals, the true asset of Interco lies in its unique capacity to foster cross-institutional social capital—bonds that often mature into lifelong personal and professional alliances in adulthood.

To illustrate the lifelong corporate dividends of healthy student interaction, Dr Awuah gave a breakdown of his current high-level corporate network, revealing that several of his vital business associates were recruited directly from the camp of his alma mater's fiercest traditional rivals.

“Although Prempeh College was our rival because I attended Opoku Ware, I made a lot of good friends from Prempeh during Interco. And now, some of my board members are from Prempeh,” the corporate head revealed.

He further emphasised that his executive network spans multiple institutions across the Ashanti Region, all traced back to positive interactions during these school games.

“I made so many good friends from Kumasi High and other schools, too. Even one of my lawyers went to Yaa Asantewaa. I met her during Interco,” he added.

A Call for Structural Reorientation

Dr Awuah stressed that Interco was never originally designed to be reduced to toxic rivalry, tribalistic friction, or physical conflict. Instead, its core mandate has always been to build lasting connections, cultural exchanges, and shared positive experiences among the Ghanaian student populace.

With campus security forces and heads of institutions continuously struggling to contain post-match hooliganism, the business executive is encouraging the current generation of students to urgently shift their focus.

He advised youth groups to consciously leverage inter-school tournaments as strategic networking ecosystems to cultivate discipline, emotional intelligence, and future career opportunities, rather than converting sports fields into arenas for violence.