Africa Health Collaborative, KNUST in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, has organized a sensitization workshop for Nursing and Midwifery Training Colleges (NMTC) affiliated with KNUST in Accra, Takoradi, and Offinso.

The initiative led by the Health Entrepreneurship pillar under the Collaborative aims to engage approximately 1,000 healthcare students, equipping them with the knowledge to explore entrepreneurial opportunities within the healthcare sector.

Speaking at the workshop, Prof. Wilberforce Owusu-Ansah, the Health Entrepreneurship Pillar Lead of the Africa Health Collaborative, emphasized the importance of raising awareness among healthcare students.

“One of the cardinal things we discovered during the training was that students' awareness levels were slightly low,” he said.

To address this gap, the program focuses on engaging students directly in areas such as mindset change, critical thinking, and design thinking to foster a better understanding of entrepreneurship.

Prof. Owusu-Ansah elaborated on the strategy, saying, “The plan is to build a database of participants after training their tutors through the Training of Trainers (TOT) sessions. Once the step-down sessions are conducted, we will select students from this database to benefit further from the initiative.”

He also noted an encouraging trend: “One interesting observation was that some students were so enthusiastic that they had already started building their business ideas before attending the training.”

Prof. Owusu-Ansah explained that the increased awareness generated by the program enables students to refine their ideas, ensuring participants are committed to transforming the healthcare sector. “This allows us to elevate the program and position students to drive innovative and sustainable solutions for the health sector,” he added.

The workshop also provided an opportunity for the team to meet with staff and introduce them to various short courses and training programs under the Health Employment Pillar (HEMP), Health Ecosystem (HECO), and Health Entrepreneurship Pillar (HENT).