The Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North, Dr Kwamena Minta Nyarku, has called for stronger systems to help African innovators turn ideas and research into viable businesses capable of creating jobs and driving development.
He said Africa’s growing youthful population, technological capacity and entrepreneurial energy could support sustainable transformation if the continent strengthened the systems for financing, developing and commercialising new ideas.
Dr Nyarku was speaking at the 14th Universities, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (UEED) Africa Conference, organised in collaboration with Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, DAAD and the Ghana Circular Economy Centre, with support from the European Union.
The conference was held on the theme, “Building Resilient Enterprise Development Ecosystems for Africa’s Digital and AI Future: Financing Secular Innovation and Future Jobs.”
Dr Nyarku said the continent’s challenge was not a lack of creativity but the absence of sufficient structures to help promising ideas grow into competitive enterprises.
“Africa has never lacked creativity or entrepreneurship,” he said.
He urged universities to play a greater role in enterprise development by helping students and researchers identify real-world problems and develop commercial solutions from their research.
“Research should not remain only within academic channels. It should reach communities and industries across the globe,” he said.
Dr Nyarku also called for wider access to financing for entrepreneurs, particularly businesses with potential for rapid growth.
He said innovation grants, start-up funding and venture capital could provide alternative sources of financing for enterprises that may struggle to access conventional funding.
On artificial intelligence, he said African countries should develop solutions suited to their own needs instead of relying mainly on technologies developed elsewhere.
He identified agriculture, healthcare, education and business as areas where AI could provide opportunities for innovation and enterprise development.
“Technology alone will not transform Africa. People will transform Africa through technology,” he stated.
He further called for closer collaboration between government, universities, industry, investors and entrepreneurs to create an environment in which innovative businesses can survive and expand.
The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive, George Justice Arthur, also encouraged entrepreneurs to explore opportunities in the circular economy and work with the Assembly to create jobs and attract investment.
“We invite you to help us turn waste into wealth in Cape Coast,” he said.
He also urged young people to consider entrepreneurship as a means of creating employment.
“Do not just look for a job. Create one,” he said.
The Executive Director of the Ghana Circular Economy Centre, Dr Marindame Kombate, said Ghana had no shortage of ideas but needed stronger pathways for converting innovation into commercially successful enterprises.
“Ghana does not lack ideas,” he said, stressing the need to move “from innovation to enterprise, and from enterprise to scale.”
