The CEO of the Ghana Export–Import Bank, Sylvester Adinam Mensah, has reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to supporting the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) in its bid to expand student entrepreneurship initiatives.
He made the comment when the UPSA management, led by Vice Chancellor Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, paid a courtesy call on him at his office on Thursday, February 13.
Mr. Mensah’s statement came in response to a request from Prof. Mawutor seeking support for the university’s initiative to expand its Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre. This expansion aims to train more students in entrepreneurship.
“UPSA wants to empower young entrepreneurs,” Prof. Mawutor emphasised. “We want our students to be introduced to entrepreneurship at an early stage of their academic journey to help them launch their own ventures, revitalise old and abandoned companies, and reduce the unemployment rate in the country.”
Prof. Mawutor also sought support for the UPSA’s faculty-book publication project. The project he explained will enable UPSA lecturers to develop and publish local course books for the university’s various programs.
He added that the initiative is intended to “incorporate more local business case studies into the teaching curriculum to enhance the learning outcomes of our students.”
“UPSA offers over 500 taught courses, and over the years, our lecturers have had to rely on foreign textbooks to teach students,” he said.
“We want to move away from this practice by writing our own course books, using indigenous companies like Eximbank as case studies. This will improve teaching and learning while simultaneously promoting local businesses.”
Mr. Sylvester Mensah, who is a former a senior lecturer at UPSA before his appointment as CEO of GEXIM, commended the university for the “great” initiative and pledged his full support to help UPSA achieve its strategic vision.
For his part, the Deputy CEO of GEXIM, Moses Klu Mensah, congratulated Prof. John Mawutor on his appointment as the Vice Chancellor.
He emphasised that GEXIM funds and supports SMEs that engage in import substitution products, noting that these SMEs need support to venture into export markets.
Mr Mensah urged the UPSA management to focus on sectors including food processing, agribusiness, and the export supply to help generate maximum employment and foster economic growth.
Present at the meeting were the Registrar of UPSA, Mrs Lorraine Gyan, and Mrs Florence Bediako, an Assistant Registrar at the Office of the Vice-Chancellor.
