Young entrepreneurs have been encouraged to focus on developing positive attitudes if they are to succeed in business. CEO of Engineers and Planners, Ibrahim Mahama, who was guest speaker at the graduation ceremony of My Business 2011, urged the ten finalists to take advantage of networking opportunities in order to enhance their business. In his address to the ten mentees, Mr Mahama shared his experience as a young business man who had to begin with limited resources to now own Engineers and Planners which operates in the Mining industry. He also owns Asutuare farms and other companies. He recently also secured a mining contract in Liberia. Mr Mahama emphasized the need for the young entrepreneurs to build networks. “Today if I am chasing for a job and I don’t have any obstacles in my way I don’t enjoy it. I go to places, I don’t know people, and I go in there and create my own relationships. So I have pockets of relationships. It’s about building relationships”. Mr Mahama also advised the youth on how to build relationships. “What you need to do, everyday, gentlemen when you see people you don’t know them just keep a smile, say hello to them ask their name, what do they do take that contact and store it in your memory. Ladies when you see the young men or anybody just keep a smile on your face because you might not know who will save you or who you will meet in the business”. According to him, most young ladies have the tendency of being hostile and this usually robs them of business opportunities. “I meet a lot of young ladies and before you say hello, they’ve frown their face. “Straight away you have lost a business. Your business is the attitude and attitude is everything. “You should be careful when you meet people. Careful in a way, when I meet you today you are my brother, I don’t have to wait for ten years and say I am waiting to know you, no I can tell your character when I meet you,” he said. He also touched on the poultry industry and called on government to help build the capacity of the local industry.Mr Mahama further appealed to government to make the local content bill more relevant to Ghanaian businessmen. He said the implementation has not really helped local businesses. Some of the mentees also shared their experiences with Joy Business. After the event, the mentees expressed appreciation to Joyfm and Multi TV for providing them the platform to market themselves. The event was attended by the ten CEO’s including Alhassan Andani of Stanbic Bank,Pearl Esua-Mensah of UT Bank, Frank Adu of Cal Bank amongst others as well as other invited guests. Some of them pledged investment support for their mentees after the ceremony. Guest Speaker, Ibrahim Mahama also invested an amount of 10,000 cedis into one of the businesses. Tune in to you JoyNews channel on Multi TV and also on Wednesday on Business Trends for a repeat broadcast of the ceremony.