Radford University College (RUC) has organized a fashion show to showcase the skills of their graduating degree students at the Fashion Design Department of the school in Accra.

The event which came off at the Conference Centre saw about 20 fashion graduates showcase their latest collection comparable to the graduate fashion shows at Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and the UK Graduate Fashion Week.

As the premier university to offer a degree course in fashion-design, Radford sees it as an integral component in its curricula.

The Executive Chairman of the University, Nana Dwomoh Sarpong in an interview said the fashion show is a platform for promoting new talent for a future of creative design and bridging the gap between graduation and employment challenges facing many graduates.

He noted that main objective is to produce entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses after graduation and be able to market these products abroad.

The Executive Chairman was happy about the zeal and commitment the students have shown in their output which in his opinion brings a unique international presence into the Ghanaian creative industries to enable it to thrive.

He also revealed that the school will soon set up a clothing factory in the country as part of effort by the university to reduce Ghana’s imports.

Nana Dwomoh Sarpong was optimistic that Radford University will continue to set the pace in giving entrepreneurial skills to the youth.

For her part, Head of Fashion Department at Radford, Yvonne Ntiamoah was elated about how fast her students have learnt.

She was convinced if such entrepreneurship programmes are introduced in tertiary institutions, it will reduce graduate unemployment in the country.

Yvonne Ntiamoah expressed worry about how Ghana has not tapped into the billion dollar fashion industry.

“We have our seamstresses and tailors but we don’t regard them. If we can give proper degree training to our designers and raise them to the international level, Ghana can be on the same skills with the developed world because we have the creativity but we just don’t know how to make money from it,” she said.