Cape Coast (C/R), July 2, GNA - The Russian government will this year, offer more than 30 scholarships to Ghanaian students to study in Russia.

Mr Evgeny Tereshenchenko, Trade and Economic Attache at the Russian Embassy in Accra announced this at this year's Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurs (SAGE) National Competition and Be a Social Success (BASS) Conference held at the University of Cape Coast in the Central Region.

The competition aims at equipping promising professionals, students and entrepreneurs with the skills required to communicate and network to enable them to become social magnet.

Saint Augustine's College in Cape Coast and Presbyterian Boys Senior High School, Legon, who emerged winner and first runner-up respectively in the competition, will represent Ghana at this year's SAGE World Cup scheduled for Cape Town, South Africa from July 23 to July 27. Mr Tereshenchenko, who was the guest speaker at the event, said this underscored the resolve of the Russian Government to continue to support Ghana's socio-economic development.

He therefore, urged the youth to place their development at the core of their goals to enable them to become responsible future leaders. Dr Joseph Annan, Deputy Minister in-charge of Tertiary Education underscored the importance of entrepreneurship saying "entrepreneurship has become central to economic growth in the light of the rapid advancement of information technology and growing importance of knowledge.

"The new economy now calls for innovative ideas and individual initiative, rather than organizational discipline, adjustability and greater speed in taking decisions, which I must say is what entrepreneurship is all about" Dr Annan said.

Dr Annan said the challenges of the 21st century demanded that Ghanaians developed and acquired entrepreneurial skills to assist the nation to overcome her monetary circumstances as well as help to promote independent, effective and efficient decision making amongst individuals. He said entrepreneurial development formed the core of government's agenda and assured that it (government) would continue to provide the necessary infrastructure to enable the citizenry to develop and sharpen their entrepreneurial skills.

He congratulated the winners for their hard work and called on them to seize the opportunity to improve themselves rather than engage in activities that might ruin their future.

He also commended SAGE-Ghana for organizing the competition. Mr F.K. Oklu, Central Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), who chaired the ceremony, said the GES was doing all it could to promote quality education in the country. He expressed satisfaction to the SAGE programme, saying its contents were useful and could help develop the capabilities of the youth. Mr Seth Ignatius Donkor, Country Director of SAGE-Ghana appealed to the private sector to embrace the SAGE concept because it was equipping the youth to become captains of industry in future. He commended the Ministry of Education for its continued support for the programme. 2 July 10