No fewer than 39 Godfrey Okoye University (GOUNI) students in Enugu on Saturday graduated from the British IAU17 entrepreneurship project, located within the university.
The project is being funded and supported by the British Council.
GOUNI also partnered the London School of Economics (LSE), DNA Learning Centre, Nigeria, at GOUNI, its Directorate of Entrepreneurship (DOE) and Spark Concepts Management Limited (SCML) to train the students.
They were trained on how to do organic vegetable, yoghurt and cream, honey, fish and snail farming, natural food and other agricultural farming scientifically.
Speaking at the event, the Vice Chancellor of GOUNI, Prof. Christian Aneke, disclosed that the two centres in the institution emphasized on practicality – the DNA centre and Centre for Entrepreneurship.
Anieke, represented by the Deputy Director, DNA Centre, GOUNI, Mr Michael Okoro, said DNA which means “Deoxyribonucleic Acid” Centre is students do science, experiment and research.
“The idea is to ensure that our students do not graduate without entrepreneurial mindset and business strategy to ensure no student’s life is left untransformed.
“The DNA Centre is an anchored centre for incubating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
“Besides training, the graduands were taken through research to be able to commercialize their products, from laboratory to the company,” he said.
Anieke further said the University chose to enroll their students in entrepreneurship to make them fit in the world where machines have taken over human jobs.
“For this reason, the Senate of the University approved that every course must have entrepreneurial curriculum,” Aneke said.
The vice chancellor, however, thanked the British Council and other partners for their support and funding.
Mr Christopher Uwakwe, the DOE, GOUNI, described the project as “Innovation for African University Project”.
He noted that the British Council instituted IAUP17 project only in GOUNI in the whole of Africa and it is expected to end by December 2022.
“So far, 10 business groups, made up of three to four students per group, have started business in science areas called STEM business.
“We are here today to witness their formal graduation, adding that they have started their own businesses,” Uwakwe said.
Earlier, a representative of LSE, Mr Uche Igwe, expressed satisfaction that the project which started not long ago is yielding fruits.
Igwe, who spoke through zoom, said he was excited over the partnership between LSE and GOUNI.
He congratulated the graduating students and charged them to be good ambassadors of the groups, broaden their communities and bear fruits.
Prof. George Udeh, Director, DNALC Nigeria, said they are working hard on how Nigerians can benefit from what is going on in other parts of the world in terms of training and way of doing businesses.
The event featured presentation of business reports by the graduating students and presentation of certificates.
