Regional News of Friday, 29 April 2016

Source: GNA

See challenges as opportunities, youth urged

Madam Juliet Asante, Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Productions Limited, has urged the youth to see problems as an avenue for opportunities and not bottleneck to their success.

She implored the youth especially graduates to be creative and innovative and identify any given problem as an opportunity to find solutions as well create wealth.

Madam Asante was speaking at a Career and Entrepreneurship Development training programme for the youth of the Church of Pentecost at Ashale Botwe in Accra on the theme: “Finding Your Fit.”

The programme was aimed at providing graduates with self-understanding and the necessary tools to establish a meaningful career and help transform the lives of others.

It was also to explore understanding of entrepreneurship in today’s challenging economy and create space for exchanging approaches in succeeding as an entrepreneur as well as identifying initiatives for career development.

She said entrepreneurship was not limited to big enterprises but the zeal to start a business from a humble beginning to higher heights.

Madam Asante, also an entrepreneur and Actress, urged the youth to be passionate about establishing their own businesses even if they are working in an office because it helps the individual to put the skills and potential into productive use.

“There are opportunities around us, in that any community is bedeviled with a problem and that it is incumbent for an entrepreneur to think critically about the missing gap and turn it into meaningful opportunity”, she said.

Madam Asante said to solve a problem, the individual need to have love and passion for the missing gap, because without those values, it would be difficult to have the discipline to succeed as a business person.

The Actress urged the youth to put down any business idea on paper and develop a business plan, giving details of programmes and budget for assistance.

“As an entrepreneur you need to be resolute and persistent and not allow failure to distract your vision and be ready to do effective research to ascertain the preference of target audience to meet their needs”.

She urged the youth to have a ‘stomach for risk’, since most businesses that thrive experience pocket of difficulties, but the most important thing is to see failure as part of the learning processes and identify new ways of solving the problem.

Reverend Dr Stephen Nyakotey Quao, the Resident Pastor of Church of Pentecost, Ashaley Botwe English Assembly, said the programme was the second in series organised by the church to provide opportunities for the youth since they are the ‘seed for tomorrow’.

He said unemployment was the bane for developing and developed countries and that it is important for leaders to put in place proactive policies on employment to address some of the social vises in society.

He commended government for upgrading the polytechnics into universities to place emphasis on vocational training for the youth to be technically employed with the needed skills.

As part of the programme, Montran Ghana and Liane Services help register church members who had completed school and were searching for jobs.