The Executive Director of the Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), Mr. Benjamin Gyan Kesse, has identified rigid academic structures as a major challenge facing student entrepreneurs in Ghanaian universities.
According to him, students spend more time in the classroom than developing their businesses, even after significant effort has been invested in grooming them into entrepreneurs.
“The challenge is that you spend time grooming an entrepreneur. This young man or young lady builds a business but is in Level 200 or Level 300. He or she still has to stay in school, attend lectures, and run a business.”
Mr. Gyan made these remarks at the launch of a newly established Innovation Enclave at the University of Ghana on Friday, December 19, 2025.
Speaking at the event, he appealed to university management to introduce special-purpose academic tracks that would allow student entrepreneurs to move flexibly between their academic work and business ventures without having to quit school.
“Can universities start thinking about how we create special-purpose processes for young entrepreneurs from our universities—giving them special tracks that allow them to continue learning without saying, ‘I’m quitting school,’ while still focusing on their education and the businesses they’ve started?”
He also noted that data from KIC-supported ventures shows that student-led businesses are creating between eight and ten jobs on average, providing employment opportunities for their peers.
“Our data shows that, on average, every business we support—whether from your institution or others across the country—creates about eight to ten jobs. This means that fellow students who may not be able to create jobs or secure employment elsewhere are being given opportunities by these young entrepreneurs.”
Mr. Gyan further urged university authorities to consider shortening the time students spend on campus to create more room for entrepreneurial development, stressing that this should not come at the expense of academic excellence.
“Can we really shorten the period students spend on campus so they can focus on building their businesses—not for them to lose out on their education, but for us to come up with something creative? This is my passionate plea to the university community.”
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Story by Charles Wumbe Dauda | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Gabriel Tecco Mensah
