Last week, Star From All Nations (SFAN), a high-impact social enterprise that bridges the gap between education and work, held their inaugural Student Entrepreneurship Week event. The event which was kickstarted by SFAN founder, Tom-Chris Emewulu, was held at the British Council in Accra and featured a variety of speakers from different industries in Ghana and abroad.
The event was motivated to inspire young students and entrepreneurs who wanted to learn how to create a real company and build a career. With the very best mentors, investors, startup entrepreneurs, corporate professionals, diplomats, and community leaders in attendance, participants definitely got what they signed up for.
Here’s a recap and highlights of the two day event:
#SEWGH: Day 1
After the introductory keynote by Tom-Chris, the event kicked off with a presentation by Dr. Fred McBagonluri of Academic City.
Dr. McBagonluri talked about the changing dynamics in education and how new teaching methods like Design Thinking can be integral in developing new ideas and solutions to fix our everyday problems in Ghana. He also touched on how our society seems to be lacking “social-emotionally intelligence” when it comes to solving the problems of the average Ghanaian.
The next speaker was Samuel Darko Appiah, a lawyer and former BBC news correspondent who talked about the “Future of News and Media“.
Mr Appiah touched on five (5) predictions that he sees in the future of media. Those five predictions included “Fewer Paid For Publications“, the “Blurring Of Boundaries” in which he stated that there would be a disruption of the advertising model by Google and Facebook, “More Choice and More Independence” in media, “More Automation” and “Immersive News“.
After the keynote presentations, the forum broke for lunch after which Gina Kloes, an Award Winning Author and Leadership Expert, took center stage for her keynote presentation.
Gina Kloes’ session can best be described as both inspirational and a show of vulnerability. Gina shared her personal struggle and life story in which she was able triumph through some trials and tribulations from her childhood and young adult life and overcame hurdles to become a UC Berkley law graduate without obtaining a college degree to gain admission.
It was very moving and inspirational to say the least.
#SEWGH Day 2
The next day for the event was more of “Panel Discussion” day as multiple panels featuring various personalities from different industries spoke and gave insights on different topics and themes.
The first panel discussion was on The Future Of Work. The moderator was Lakeshia Marie, founder of Ford Communications. The panelists included Andrew Bimpong (Workshed Accra), Andy Mensah (IBM), Edem Kumodzi (Andela) and Nana Boateng Osei (Bohten).
Other panels included a Business Development panel, a panel on the discussion of Technology and a panel on Capital. Featured panelists included Yofi Grant (CEO of GIPC), Selorm Branttie (mPedigree), Christine Ntim (Founder of Haiti Tech Summit) and Kelvin Nyame (MeQasa)
Finally, there was a Business Pitch contest in which startups pitched their businesses to a panel of judges. After the pitches and judge deliberations, the three member team from Uni-Connect were adjudged the winners of the contest.
Overall, it was a fruitful 2-day affair for participants who gained more crucial information and insight from industry experts and knowledgable professionals.
The team of Stars From All Nations as well as Tom-Chris should be highly commended for putting the event together and gathering a host of personalities at one venue for a chance at networking and knowledge sharing. Their next event should definitely be on your radar.
