The British Council has charged students of the four universities participating in its Innovation for African Universities (IAU) programme to endeavor to be job creators.

The Innovation for African Universities (IAU) programme organised by the British Council included four universities which are the University of Ghana, Regional Maritime university, Accra Technical University and the University of Health and Allied Sciences.

The four universities were tasked to define problems and shape solutions that can have a significant impact on the entrepreneurial eco-system and contribute to employment opportunities.

The Country Director of the British Council, Sean Harris, in his welcome address said the participants are expected to develop skills that will transcend into building successful businesses or products.

“The British Council developed this programme to foster the culture, innovation and entrepreneurship with higher education institutions and facilitate the development of skills required to build industries, companies and products”, he said.

Speaking to Joy Business during the closing ceremony, The Higher Education Project Manager at the British Council, Akorfa Dawson, said the beneficiaries have shown evidence of the objectives the IAU hopes to achieve and have been able to strengthen their existing startups.

“The objective is to strengthen the capacity of the universities to churn out more employable and entrepreneurial graduates. And the network partners have presented their projects and have made mention of their beneficiaries who have shown evidence of the objectives the IAU sought to achieve including being able to strengthen their existing startups and ideas”.

The Co-founder of Impact Hub-Accra, Kelechi Ofoegbu, who partnered the University of Ghana to execute its task indicated that the programme provides the platform for skills development and acquisition to build or improve upon businesses.

The IAU programme is being implemented in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Africa.

Participants of the various schools underwent training in agribusiness, entrepreneurship and lean methodology.