The creative ingenuity of all 300 level students of Igbinedion University Okada was on display at the mandatory entrepreneurship and creative skills training/exhibition held at the institution’s main campus, Okada.
The exhibition which the vice chancellor of the university, Professor Lawrence Ikechukwu Ezemoye said is the tenth in the series since it commenced in the 2013/14 academic year, witnessed the exhibition of beautiful products made by the students ranging from attractive footwares, bread and confectioneries, fruit juice, soap and toiletries, among others.
Besides, specialized skills in tailoring/fashion design, block moulding, hair care/mancure and pedicure; desktop publishing and business center, including soap and toiletries manufacturing; baking/ events management; music/drum-wind and percussion and animal husbandry were also on display to the excitement of participants and invited guests.
The vice chancellor said the event marked the conclusion of a mandatory entrepreneurial training, a 2.0 credit units course for all 300 level students in all disciplines after having been exposed to 14 skills sets.
Ezemoye described efforts by the university in fostering entrepreneurial culture amongst students and staff as crucial to national development.
He said: “Entrprenuers have the power to shape the world by developing versatile skills and profitable business schemes needed for human development.
“This is in tandem with Igbinedion University’s overarching goal of ensuring that its graduates leave the university with at least one skill that will enable him/her to readily find a profitable niche in an economy where youth unemployment has climbed to over 30 percent.
“At the end of the two courses our students offer on entrepreneurship at their 2nd and 3rd years in their undergraduate studies, each of them is required to prepare and submit a business plan. The positive impact on the mindset of our students who undertake this programme year in year out has been very encouraging”.
The vice chancellor said the university’s model of an ideal entrepreneur is one with particular skill set, a great communicator who understands the power of branding, with great attitude for sale and business strategy.
He said just like entrepreneurship, every career path demands some forms of training, which he noted explains why the Sir David Osunde Centre for Entrepreneurship and Skills Acquisition has very defined programmes with 14 skill set to boost creativity, innovation and employability of graduates of the university.
The VC asserted that the university has leveraged the industry-academia interface by ensuring that all post graduate theses and dissertations are supervised by academic and relevant industry staff, noting that this had made it possible for its graduates to become adept in the theory and practice of their profession.
He therefore charged the students to use the acquired skills to further develop themselves and engender a world of independence and freedom.
In his presentation, the guest speaker at the event Dr Friday Okpara, director of partnership and coordination, SMEDAN charged the students to strive to identify early the business components in their respective career choices for them to be successful entrepreneurs.
Dr Okpara taught his audience how to start a business with little or no capital by applying what he called the three C’s principles of starting a business. He listed them to include, having the right concept about the business choice, acquiring the right capacity in terms of skills/ability as well as having the needed capital to grow the business.
