The Design and Technology Institute (DTI) has held its inaugural Legacy Dialogue Series on Entrepreneurship and the Future of Work by bringing together government officials, industry players and development partners to exchange insights and shape practical approaches to workforce development.
Discussions from the series would inform the vision for the Entrepreneurship Centre under the DTI Pan-African Centre of Excellence for TVET and Workforce Development, a flagship platform dedicated to nurturing future-ready talent and equipping Ghana’s workforce for emerging opportunities.
The event was held on the theme: “Within Our Lifetime: Building Ghana’s Industrial Future.”
Entrepreneurship
At the event, the Founder of DTI, Constance Swaniker, said entrepreneurship was central to national transformation, arguing that supporting young entrepreneurs built an economy rather than merely treating unemployment.
She described startups and small and medium-sized enterprises as nodes of growth that generated income, created jobs and scaled into future industries, adding that entrepreneurship must be prioritised in policy and practice to absorb the expanding youth workforce.
“Every business a young person starts is a node in a network of growth, generating income, creating jobs and expanding opportunities, so startups and SMEs must be prioritised to absorb the growing youth workforce,” she stated.
Ms Swaniker said skills-based, character-led technical and vocational education and training were the backbone of the future of work.
Practical, employer-aligned programmes such as welding, fabrication, design, industrial electricals, agricultural mechanisation and related trades, she explained, were meant to prepare the youth for real industry needs, enabling graduates to compete globally and to convert workshop learning into businesses and employment.
She called for sustained public-private partnership and policy continuity beyond electoral cycles and urged the government to increase and stabilise TVET funding and implement long-term national plans.
Ms Swaniker also called on the private sector to move from corporate social responsibility to co-creating training, offering real workplace problems, mentorship, and opportunities for graduates to transition into employment or enterprise.
“TVET is a strategic national asset, and funding and private-sector co-creation should be stabilised accordingly.
Ghana must transition from a raw-material-exporting economy to one grounded in processing, manufacturing, and continental competitiveness,” she added.
Ms Swaniker tied entrepreneurship and technical skills to dignity, national industrialisation and intergenerational responsibility, stressing that enabling youth to build by providing skills, capital, mentorship and tolerance for failure would create durable industries, reduce reliance on raw exports, and realise a long-term vision of economic independence and broad-based job creation.
“You are the answer.
The future belongs to those who build it. Choose precision. Choose excellence.
Choose a career that creates, produces and endures,” She said.
Entrepreneurship Strategy
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor underscored the need for a shift from isolated ventures to coordinated national planning.
He argued that entrepreneurship should be scaled so that individual initiative would feed broader national wealth creation rather than remaining fragmented.
Mr Kufuor called for a cooperative relationship between the state and citizens, saying that “the state by itself would not grow society economically” and that “the state, if it is well informed, should appreciate that it should be a sort of symbiosis between the state and the citizenry.”
He said citizens as stakeholders and public-private partnerships were essential to inclusive development.
Youth leadership
Speaking on youth leadership and entrepreneurship as catalysts for national transformation, the Founder of StratAfrique, Martyn Mensah, said that “transformation, progress and improvement will only take place if we allow young people to assume positions of leadership”.
He raised concern over the mismatch between education outputs and the formal job market, noting that the government remained the nation’s largest employer.
Linda Larbi, an accomplished marketer, urged leaders to invest in legacy rather than short-term sponsorship.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh