Kumasi Center and Sun City Radio sign agreement to promote entrepreneurship

Suncity FM CEO exchange program agreement with Kumasi Center founder

Kumasi Center’s entrepreneurship series program seek to empower a corps of leaders, game changers and sustainable entrepreneurs poised to address social needs, solve problems and set up innovative businesses.
The target group for the program includes students, entrepreneurs and community leaders in Ghana. In partnership with the Sun City Radio, the program is to be introduced in Sunyani after successfully being held in Kumasi with various youth groups.

Sun City FM 97.1 is a novel radio station based in Sunyani poised to change radio programming in the Bono Ahafo Region. Sun City radio focuses on good music, information and programs on solving socio-economic challenges and the promotion of entrepreneurship.

Program pattern:
The program will be held on and off radio, consisting of various focus groups and radio discussions with panel of experts, students and entrepreneurs. The platform will also be used to share critical information regarding how to become a successful entrepreneur and also utilize skills to solve problems in society. Capacity building and business development will form an integral part of the programs on radio and off-radio.

Focus areas
-How to do business in Sunyani
-Innovation Expo
-Business and Vocational skills development
-Job center—hiring and finding a job.
-Mentorship and business incubation

Proposed program partners
-Tertiary Institutions in Bono Ahafo
-Telecom companies
-Technical Institutions
-Local government institutions and agencies

The program will start airing on Saturday 16th June. You can also listen live via http://www.suncityfm.com

Mobile and web applications developer joins Kumasi Center management

Francis Addai

Francis Addai,who has considerable experience in software development and its operations is also passionate about social entrepreneurship and lifelong learning. He regularly helps other people to identify and learn things that add value to themselves and is also the training coordinator at mFriday where he organizes training for the members in software development and entrepreneurship.

Francis is well versed in the technologies that power the web, and has been developing applications for the web for a couple of years. His projects include Church Management Software, Stock and Inventory Management Software, Customer Relationship Management Software, etc. for companies/organizations in and outside of Ghana. While at work, he has picked up some experiences after every project worked and consider them useful for his next projects. He is constantly learning to improve himself to excel in his career as an applications developer.

Obviously skilled at many things but especially skilled in HTML/CSS/Javascript, PHP, Python, Web Server Administration and Application development and Operations.

Kumasi Center is proud to have him join us.

Kumasi Center launches entrepreneurship series in partnership with Pentecost Church

Participants brainstorming during break-out session

After a successful pilot of a program that seeks to empower young people with entrepreneurship skills to set up business that addresses social concerns, the program has successfully being launched.
The program dubbed, entrepreneurship series aims to create a platform where Barclays Bank staff through Corporate Social Responsibility will offer their expertise to train and inspire, enhancing entrepreneurship and small business development in Ghana in collaboration with Kumasi Center staff and other resource persons. Additionally, it is to empower a corps of leaders, game changers and sustainable entrepreneurs poised to address social needs, solve problems and to set up innovative community based businesses to create jobs.

During the pilot program, 50 young people of the Church of Pentecost, North Suntreso Assembly were trained. A follow up program has also trained a further 20 people who have been taken through idea generation workshop during which four business ideas have been identified. Barclays Bank staff will be attached to the group to serve as mentors, helping them navigate the process of successfully turning the idea into a viable business.
As part of efforts to encourage young people to work together, participants were paired in groups and encouraged to form management teams to work on their various ideas.

The partnership which is for an initial period of two years, is seeking to train and support 500 young people to set up their own businesses either as sole proprietors or in collaboration with others—thereby changing the job seeking mind-set to a job creating one.

About Kumasi Center:

kumasi-center-executive-director-leading-idea-generation-workshop

Kumasi Center for Lifelong Learning (Kumasi Center) is a company limited by guarantee registered with the government of Ghana in 2011. The organization founded by award winning social entrepreneur Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, provides avenues for entrepreneurs to access relevant information, training, mentorships and business start-up support. Research and policy advocacy in small business development enables Kumasi Center to play a part in the elimination of bottlenecks and the formulation of relevant policy to promote small businesses and enhance entrepreneurship.

Kumasi Center’s flagship project, entrepreneurship series, intends empower young Ghanaians with relevant entrepreneurial skills, mentorship and star-up support to create jobs, initiate ideas that addresses community challenges in the areas of environment, agriculture, livelihoods, literacy among others. It is envisaged that this project would become the flagship avenue for creating jobs, building capacity and helping address specific community needs.

Kumasi Center partners Barclays Bank Ghana on pilot entrepreneurship series program

Kumasi Center for Lifelong Learning-KCLL in partnership with Barclays Bank Ghana has piloted a program to offer training on entrepreneurship, business development and leadership for small business owners, budding entrepreneurs and community leaders. The program dubbed, entrepreneurship series aims to create a platform where Barclays Bank staff through Corporate Social Responsibility will offer their expertise to train and inspire, enhancing entrepreneurship and small business development in Ghana in collaboration with Kumasi Center staff and other resource persons.

Kumasi Center, Executive Director outlines program vission

Entrepreneurship series to be held once every month and will seek to create a community of doers poised to use their skills to bring about change and development. Identifiable groups such as youth organizations, trade groups and associations are being targeted with such a program. To this end, a pilot has been rolled out at the North Suntreso Assembly of the Church of Pentecost with 50 participants mainly from the Youth Association on Saturday, 17th November, 2012.

Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, Executive Director of Kumasi Center, highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship and the need to volunteer skills set for community development, adding that a partnership with Barclays Bank is set to create the platform to enhance efforts of groups and individuals working to promote activities that address social needs, solves problems and build capacity of a critical mass of people to lead transformation across communities.

Irene Asante of Barclays Bank addresses participants

Highlighting Barclays Bank’s corporate strategy and community outreach, a staff of the Bank, Irene Darko Asante remarked that the Bank appreciates opportunities to partner with organizations such as Kumasi Center aimed at using the skills set of their staff to inspire and build capacity for change in our communities. Barclays through the Junior Achievers Program support initiatives from young people who have solid ideas aimed at solving challenges within our communities, hence she urged participants to enrol when the applications are opened. Touching on the need to volunteer skills set, she reiterated how important this is to the bank, which is why the entrepreneurship series is being supported.

Rasheeda Yehuza, founder ClickTrade Ghana speaks about initiative

A presentation was also made by the founders of ClickTradeGhana, Rasheeda Mandeeya Yehuza and Christopher Amanor, final year students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology-KNUST. ClickTradeGhana is a web based platform that makes it possible for buyers and sellers to interact for the exchange of goods and services. The co-founders of the web based platform touched on the need to volunteer as they have done in the past and on-going in helping to teach technology related skills for problem solving and resolving to also offer to teach such skills to members of the church youth association. They further stated that entrepreneurship is not really about what you learn in school, but mainly on the need to recognize challenges as opportunities in disguise, hence the need to develop solutions to address them. The youth Leader of the Church, Norbert Gyan thanked organizers and expressed preparedness to work together to advance the well-being of members and the society at large.

Cross section of participants

In a statement, the Executive Director of Kumasi Center outlined that the entrepreneurship series will be launched in January 2013 and will be held at least once monthly . Among some of the areas to be tackled in the coming year includes: enterprise development, life skills, financial literacy, speak with Dr. Entrepreneur, shadow an entrepreneur among other exciting initiatives.