The CEO of Enterprise Group Ltd, Keli Gadzekpo, has described the Ghanaian school system as a great tool for entrepreneurship. He said this on TV3’s award-winning business programme Time With the Captains on Monday, July 31.

Time With the Captains is a monthly business programme that seeks to mentor and inspire the youth, especially business students from selected universities across the country, by giving them an opportunity to interact with business leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs and captains of industry.

The programme hopes to imbibe in the youth the spirit of entrepreneurship by giving them an opportunity to hear the success stories of successful men; their failures and opportunities so as to encourage them to aspire higher and build their own businesses.

Keli Gadzekpo, who is the Co-founder and Executive Vice-Chairman of Databank Financial Services with over 15 years of experience in investment banking, shared his experience and expertise from the financial world with students from some tertiary institutions and some start-up business owners who were present.

He touched on issues such as employment. By the time you go through the school system in Ghana, he attested, then you are a “special something” and you really don’t need anyone.

He also advised graduates not to wait to get that job but to go out there and know that they have what 95 per cent of people do not have, so should rather find a way of monetizing it don’t have it. Mr Gadzekpo also gave an account of his return to Ghana and how he started his business advising the audience on which steps to take.

When asked if he had a role model, he described Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta as one he took inspiration from, saying he is a good friend. Since co-founding Databank, he has contributed to the development of the capital market and the stock exchange in Ghana through his oversight of Databank Brokerage Limited.

He also bemoaned the limited involvement of Ghanaians within the business sector, stating that he would love to see them getting involved a lot more.

Passion The Enterprise CEO singled out passion as the number one weapon in trying to start up a business because he believes when you have passion, the sacrifices that you make may leave you not to want to borrow.

Mr. Gadzekpo holds a BSc in Accounting from the Brigham Young University and is a CPA from the USA. He is also a Mason Fellow of the John F.

Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. where he earned a Masters degree in Public Administration.