April 18, 2016
Are University Degrees Important Anymore?
A high profiled Sales expert who works for one of the largest telecommunication companies in Ghana said to a group of young people during an event, “I do not hold a degree in Sales, but I am extremely skilled in sales. No degree holder in sales can beat me in my job as a sales person. It is a skill I learnt through working on the field and the experience I have gathered over the years while working. It is not based on any degree I have gained”. The tough question then is, “Are degrees really important anymore?” I completed my undergraduate about four years ago, however, I still have many of my friends who have not had the chance to work for any employer, they are jobless. I have met many Masters degree holders who either have no jobs or are under paid. The degrees have become worthless paper lying on their tables.
What should the focus be – degree or skill development?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with attaining a degree from any reputable institution, however, students should not rely entirely on the degree as a means to securing jobs or creating a business. When I was in the second year in the university, I was curious to understand why lots of young graduates are jobless. Before you blame the government or the educational system (which I do too), try to be curious as a student. I started searching for answers on how not to be jobless as a graduate and this led me to volunteering to organise the free networking forum at the university called Barcamp Cape Coast. My aim for volunteering was to learn how to work with team members of different characters and expertise. It was a skill I wanted to build before I complete my degree because I knew that was a valuable skill.
I took an unpaid internship with one of the largest telecommunications in Ghana for two years while studying as a regular student at the university. My aim for such internship was to become adept in the corporate environment, what are the dos and don’ts, learning corporate work ethics and learning how to manage office politics. It was an observing moment for me. I opened up myself to every task regardless of whether it was within the university programme I was reading or not. I was doing this internship during school hours and vacation. I valued the degree, but I knew I needed something more in order to get a job. I joined great social groups on campus learning how to plan and organise events for students. I helped organise lots of events on campus and attended several of them while a student on campus. I took time off during lecture periods to meet industry experts to ask questions (some of the questions I asked were not smart questions, but I asked) and learn from them and also attended events outside campus. I intentionally accepted an underpaid job as social media and content manager while studying as a student to enable me learn how to implement the skills I have acquired. It was a good platform for me to make all the mistakes I needed to make and learn new things. During these moments of training myself, I was also under-performing as a student. My scores were lowering slightly, so I begun to give equal attention to both skills development and the school degree.
Before completing university, I had earned a skill in social media management and was ready to help organisations with online publicity, online branding and also had my degree. The truth is this, when I first got employed, I was never asked to show my degree certificate. In all the jobs I have applied for, I have never been asked to show my certificate. The question my employers often asked was, “Do you have the skills we need to deliver this work? Can you show us some of the previous job you have worked on?”
The challenge I find in Ghana and across some parts of the world is, we put too much importance on degrees. I have been rejected by some employers because I do not have Masters degree even though I have the skill to deliver the work exceptionally and much better than a Masters degree holder. Instead of employers adding the degree requirement, the emphasis should be on skills requirement. The over emphasis on degrees as part of job selection is the reason why there is an influx of private universities and graduates across the nation. Employers should restructure their job description. Skills acquisition is as important as degree acquisition! Employers should give more opportunities for young people who are willing to intern and learn some valuable skills.
Basharat Saeed is a 20 year old Home Economics student at the University of Cape Coast. Basharat strongly persuaded her parents from studying science at Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast, in order to study her passion – fashion. At Wesley Girls High School, she won the best dress designer and best clothing and textile student. In her four years of following her passion, some of her clients include her lecturers and some prominent people in Ghana. Her company, XBash sows and sell clothing and accessories for both sexes and seeks to bring an exclusively and exquisite touch to the fashion industry in the world by fuding old trends with existing ones.
Papa Oppong Bediako, the 23 year old guy has already started printing his name in the African fashion industry. He discovered his love for fashion at a very early age in life and pursued his passion to become one of the young renowned fashion designers he is today. In 2013, Papa began work on his very first collection which he named: “A Celebration of Darkness”. In the same year, in 2013, Papa was selected to intern at Studio 189; a fashion brand owned by fashion guru Abrimah Erwiah and Hollywood actress Rosario Dawson. In 2014, Papa Oppong also interned with the UN’s Ethical Fashion Initiative which provided locals with skills and training in fashion and garment production. Although very young, Papa Oppong has firmly planted his feet into the African fashion industry. He has been featured in a number of both local and international publications including the UK’s fashion illustration magazine: DASH Magazine (2012) and Ghana’s fashion and lifestyle magazine: Dream Magazine (2014). Legit retail, a fashion retailer in South Africa, also highlighted the young designer in their end-of-year catalogue (2014). Papa’s illustrations have also gained him international attention from celebrities such as singer: Kelly Rowland, singer: Rihanna, model Amber Rose and international celebrity stylist: Ty Hunter, who all follow his social media accounts. In 2015, Papa Oppong was contacted by global cosmetics brand: M.A.C to be an illustrator for their official launch in Ghana. The event saw Papa Oppong create lip illustrations of invited guests live. 2015 also saw one of the biggest moments in the young designer’s life when he was featured on CNN’s “African Voices” program which highlighted the young designer’s life and journey in fashion through a short documentary.
The 24 year old lady hails from Nakpanduri in the Northern Region and is the founder and project director of 
Kofi Tonto is a man of many hats. He is an entrepreneur and an avid supporter of the Pan African movement. He currently serves as the Executive Director of a U.S. based organization called 
Gifty incorporated Tigo’s Corporate Communications and Responsibility department and with her team has built a great brand for the company. One of Gifty’s top initiatives include, Shelter 4 Education which involved the construction of four brand new schools and the renovation of two others in rural Ghana and other innovative projects which led her company to win the “Best CSR Company of the Year Award” at the 2015 Ghana Telecom Awards and “CSR Telecom Company of the Year” at the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards 2015. She was also the first Communications Manager and official Spokesperson for the British High Commission, Ghana, I developed the UK in Ghana’s Public Engagement Strategy and managed public diplomacy on a wide range of policy issues. She was named the 2014 PR Discovery of the Year at the prestigious Institute of Public Relations Awards 2015.
I would like to commend the great work of Reuben, a 21 year old senior high school graduate from Shama Senior High school who took the risk to solo ride across the ten regions of Ghana in fundraising for the Ghana Cleft foundation. He is the first person in Ghana to do a solo ride in Ghana and as a means to raise funds for a social good. Beuben took 90 days to ride across the country to raise GHC2,500 so far plus other monies which were paid directly into the accounts of the Ghana Cleft foundation.
November 26, 2016
The State of Social Enterprise in Ghana
Ghana has come to embrace the concept of social entrepreneurship as one of the models to solving societal issues. The concept is still being unpacked by many businesses in Ghana to fully understand how the model works. There have been no definite path for social enterprises in Ghana and the concept is yet to be integrated into policies. Also, there is limited availability of data about the number of social enterprises that exist in Ghana and how they operate. To help fill the knowledge gap about the social enterprises and their activities in Ghana, the British Council’s Global Social Entrepreneurship programme commissioned a survey to “better understand the profile of social enterprises in Ghana including through providing an estimate of the current size and scale of the social enterprise sector in the country.”
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Demographics
The study which surveyed about 98 social enterprises in the four major cities (Kumasi, Accra, Tamale and Takoradi ) in Ghana pointed out that most of the leaders of social enterprises are young people and about 40% of them are women. According to the survey, “the number of women in social enterprises in Ghana are almost three times higher than the proportion of female senior managers in mainstream businesses. About 43% of people in charge of social enterprises are between the ages of 25 and 34. The next largest age group is the 45-64 age group (27%), followed by those aged between 35 and 44 (22%), with only 2% of the social enterprises being run by people older than 65. Female social enterprise leaders are more likely to focus on health objectives, to support beneficiaries in their local community, and to hire female staff.”
Economic Impact
The 98 surveyed social enterprises have created a total of 958 jobs (based on staff numbers in 2015), have impacted the lives of 103,148 beneficiaries and have generated a combined turnover of £1.4 million (almost 8 million cedis) in the last year and about 66% of them are full time employees. Almost all social enrterprises anticipate increase in the number of staff, growth in their venture and about 77% increase in turnover in the coming year. Almost “60% of the social enterprises in Ghana focus on creating employment opportunities, expand into new geographic areas, attract new customers or clients, attract investment to expand, increase sales with existing customers and win business as part of a consortium.
Dominant Sectors
There are two main sectors in Ghana that social enterprises work in, they are, education and agriculture with education social enterprises being particularly dominant in Accra and agricultural social enterprises most common in the North. However, the education sector tops followed by agriculture, manufacturing, services, retails and housing.
According to the study, “based on the very small unrepresentative sampling process, there may be as many as 26,000 social enterprises currently operating in Ghana, with growth expected.” One of the major barriers faced by surveyed social enterprises in Ghana is financial and over two-thirds see difficulties to obtain grant funding as problematic. Other barriers stated in the survey include, cash flow, lack of access to support and advisory services, understanding/awareness of social enterprise among banks and support organisations and shortage of technical skills.
Is there a policy in Ghana supporting social enterprises?
According to the survey, “there is currently no legislation in Ghana directly mentioning or supporting social enterprises. However, social enterprises are impacted by existing legislation.” The study also suggested insight into where legislative change could support social enterprise development. There is no category for social enterprises to register themselves as in Ghana. The legal forms available to social enterprises in Ghana has sole proprietorship as the most commonly used among social enterprise survey respondents (38%). To help develop policies that will supoort the work of social enterprises in Ghana,the British Council is now working with a technical consultant (from Social Enterprise UK), the Social Entrepreneurs Ghana Network (SE Ghana) and MoTI to develop a social enterprise policy.
This study was led by Emily Darko (initially at ODI then UnLtd) with support from Shelagh Whitley and Richard Hughes (ODI), and conducted and written up in partnership with Social Enterprise UK (SEUK – team led by Nick Temple, with Dan Gregory, Martin Cooper and Charlotte de Ruyver), Betterstories (team led by Minhaz Anwar, with Anhar Athoi, Farhana Islam and Muhaimin Khan), Social Innovation Lab at Lahore University of Management Sciences (team led by Maryam Mohiuddin Ahmed, with Saad Idress and Arslan Khalid) and Songhai Advisory (team led by Kissy Agyeman-Togobo, with Lord-Gustav Togobo, Courage Kweson and Emmanuel Amoah-Darkwah).
For the full report, please read here.
Sources:
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