The training was intense at times. In all, approximately forty hours of concentrated classroom teaching from Monday morning, February 18th through Friday, February 22nd. However, the forty-three students from the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana attentively engaged in GBA’s first course in Ghana, “The Values-Driven Entrepreneur”.
Most of the students had been looking forward to this seminar for months. These were farmers, tailors, retail and wholesale merchants, salespeople, educators, tradespeople. They were individuals who already owned small businesses and who left those businesses for a full week to invest their time and forfeited income in order to take their enterprise to the next level. Others, still dreaming of owning their own business, took time off from their jobs to learn.
Their investment was applauded by Minister Mr. Ignatious Baffour-Awuah,Ghanaian President John Kufuor’s personal appointee to govern the Brong-Ahafo region, who opened the training seminar with both praise for the students and a challenge to them. Mr. Baffour-Awuah reminded them that their successful participation in this GBA seminar would not only improve their business, but also transform them into desperately-needed agents of change in their communities, the region and the nation. Speaking not only to the students, but also to a national audience via network television, radio, and print media reporters, Mr. Baffour-Awuah praised GBA and its pioneering approach to Enterprise Relief, a cutting-edge approach the minister said was just what Ghana, and all of Africa, needs to move forward and become less dependent on crisis aid.
During the week, students studied everything from basic bookkeeping, budgeting and cash-flow management to marketing, selling, people management and business planning. Students took the challenge to operate their businesses based on core values such as honesty, integrity and service; traits sorely needed in businesses around the globe. Teams of students participated in hands-on workshops, visiting and evaluating community businesses, and then presenting insights and recommendations to the rest of the class.
Four (Ad)venture Capitalists took more than a week away from their families and businesses to make this first part of our Enterprise Relief project in Ghana become a reality. But the success of the Sunyani, Ghana seminar will be complete only with your help – (Ad)venture Capitalists who will invest directly into lives and businesses of Ghanaian entrepreneurs.
One of the students, James, posted this on the gba.org website immediately after the class: “(I am writing to) inform you (of) my appreciation of the opportunity you’ve given to me to feed myself the rest of my years. I must say this study has helped me a lot.”
At the end of the class, GBA and our local partner, Africa Assistance Plan, challenged the students to apply what they had learned and prepare a business plan to identify strategic capital investment they need to grow to the next level. For most students, this was the part of the week for which they had been waiting – the chance to see their business idea come to life in the form of a real plan!
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