Government is been reminded to design programmes geared towards encouraging social entrepreneurship for tackling socio-economic challenges.

Director of the Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Prof Kwame Osei Boateng says it is the surest way of fulfilling government’s Ghana beyond Aid.

“We’re dealing with climate change, food crisis, healthcare challenge, infrastructure inadequacies and other challenges. Though Africa and for that matter Ghana have rolled out many programmes and schemes to tackling societal challenges, social entrepreneurship  provides the best means to help businesses contribute their quota to improving lives of citizenry,” he said.

He was speaking at the 2nd Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy (SEap) conference 2018 in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

Prof Boateng observes Ghana’s failure to adequately manage aid from other nations has led to unending cycle of poverty and deprivation, saying, “The result is there to prove we’ve not been prudent with the management of foreign aids.”

He however noted though businesses are there to make profit it must be environmental and human friendly.

“Businesses in this sense must not parasitic, or break rules without been caught and therefore make fat profit. We should make sure society’s wellbeing is taken into consideration. How can business be better than this,” he asked.

The social entrepreneurship and philanthropy programme seeks to groom a new generation of social entrepreneurs endowed with a sense of patriotism.

It forms part of requirements towards the fulfillment of the Masters degree in Development Management.

This year’s conference saw the presentation of eighteen projects on areas ranging from health to education.

Creation of marketing network and website for charcoal making company, Zaacoal and rebuilding of a collapsed wall for a school at Ayi Mensah in the Greater Accra Region, were part of the projects.

Coordinator, Dr Henry Kofi Mensah was happy the programme has impacted on the lives of the people and project communities.

The students were hopeful others will emulate their contributions to help end especially the poverty cycle.