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UNILAG
The University of Lagos has emerged the winner of this year Information Technology driven entrepreneurship competition organised by Accelerated Learning System Limited in partnership with General Electric (GE) Company at the Lagos Business School, Ajah, Lagos.
Students of the institution defeated 19 other groups from various universities across Nigeria with a perfect business simulation model, applicable to a real life business. The competition was part of activities marking the International Information Technology Week.
At the several levels of simulating a real business in Nigeria, five groups with the best business models on how to maximise profits and improve staff quality were shortlisted for the final stage. The five groups who made it to the final were University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, Babcock University and the American University of Nigeria (AUN) Yola. UNILAG came tops, defeating University of Ibadan and University of Ilorin to second and third position respectively.
Leader of the UNILAG team, Oso Temitope, a final year Chemical Engineering student described the success as what they actually expected, saying the group spent sleepless weeks preparing, rehearsing and tidying its business simulation, which eventually paid off.
He explained that the whole exercise of business simulation with the use of Information Technology was very engaging and rewarding as it help sharpened the students’ entrepreneurial skills and knowledge, which can never be taking away from them. “Every one of us was engaged in the success story and it came to us as expected,” he said.
To the Babcock University group leader, Titi Otukoya, the exercise was worthwhile experience because it has further sharpened her business knowledge and skills. “Even if we couldn’t get any meaningful position, the fact that we made it to the final and acquired more skills in running business enterprise driven by technology was fulfilling for me.”
She, however, called on other corporate organisations to emulate the gesture of General Electric (GE) Company and Accelerated Learning with a view to making Nigerian youths more productive.
For the Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Sub-Sahara Africa, of GE, Patricia Obozuwa, the exercise is in partial fulfillment of the firm’s decision to developing entrepreneurial skills in Nigeria and Africa.
Obozuwa described the exercise as a very real way to work with the students and intimate them with what they might meet out there after graduation. She explained that it was part of her company’s corporate social responsibility to invest in Africa by building a sustainable future in Nigeria and across Africa.
Tagged ‘Kujenga’ — a Swahili word for ‘build’ the progamme is aimed at empowering people with new entrepreneur skills with a view to foster development in Nigeria and by extension in Africa.
The Chief Executive Officer Accelerated Learning System Limited, Tope Toogun, explained that the initiative is part of his company’s effort geared towards closing the wide gap between education and skills acquisition in Nigeria, which is the bane of development.
According to him, the nation’s university curriculum does not equip students with entrepreneur skills, adding that his firm is set run learning and development programs with the use of technology innovation to other tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“Nigeria has a huge unemployment challenge and there won’t be enough jobs to employ the army of graduates being churn out yearly made us focus on how to encourage individual to develop their skills with a view to creating more jobs,” he said.