The Vice-Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, has urged entrepreneurs and students to prioritise ethical leadership in business.
Delivering his speech at the Prophetic Business Empowerment Conference on Monday, 3 March 2026, he noted that commercial success without integrity poses long-term risks to national development.
Addressing participants, Prof. Mawutor said ethical discipline and transparency were essential to long-term business growth, particularly in an environment where short-term gains often overshadow responsible decision-making.
“Prophetic business leadership calls for more than commercial acumen; when enterprise is guided by knowledge, integrity and principled conviction, it transcends profit-making and becomes a vehicle for lasting societal impact,” he said.
The five-day conference, themed “Enlargement in the Marketplace”, seeks to explore practical ways of aligning business practice with character-based leadership.
Prof. Mawutor noted that the theme resonated with UPSA’s academic direction, which focuses on entrepreneurship and practical skills development within its curriculum.
He said equipping students with both technical competence and ethical judgement was critical to preparing future business leaders to navigate complex economic realities and contribute responsibly to national development.
The organiser of the conference, Prophet Nana Yaw Obeng, echoed the call for values-driven entrepreneurship, arguing that prosperity pursued without vision and responsibility could undermine institutional and national progress.
“The marketplace is not merely a sphere of economic exchange; it is a platform for stewardship, innovation and societal advancement,” he said.
Prophet Obeng also urged policymakers and educators to prioritise systems that produce graduates with the capacity to create value and address real-world challenges, rather than focusing solely on certification.
