Why Entrepreneurship In Universities Must Be Revived —Temofe

The President and Founder of the African Economic Merit Awards, McEva Temofe, said that the AEMA Inspire Project would inspire and build entrepreneurs across Africa starting from Nigeria.

He said the project will raise entrepreneurs to becoming employers of labour and business executives.

AEMAimspire University Tour is a pet project of the African Economic Merit Awards initiated by Temofe. AEMA is an organisation that has presence in 17 African countries with Economic impact and developmental projects.

In each University, it gives grants and other start up kits to students to help them build on an existing project with the sum in Naira in Nigeria and US Dollars in other African countries.

These young entrepreneurs will be mentored by successful professionals /entrepreneurs to enable them build a lasting enterprise.

African Economic Merit Awards (AEMA) first launched its first Economic Varsity Tour of Nigerian universities at the BAZE UNIVERSITY in 2022 to inspire entrepreneurship skills in undergraduates across the country.

Tomofe said that AEMA, is an organisation driven by young professionals to promote innovative ideas for entrepreneurial, economic and social development, and the launching of the Economic Varsity Tour

According to the President and Founder, the tour is to inspire students to also pursue their career in the area entrepreneurship and to raise their consciousness on the need to get involved in political affairs of nations for a better Africa.

He said the focus of the tour is ‘Safeguarding the Nigerian economy through entrepreneurs’ was carefully chosen to encourage and stimulate business prowess among youths.

Temofe said that the tour would inspire undergraduates to key into entrepreneurship rather than wait for white-collar jobs after graduation.

He disclosed that the organisation will visit lots of universities to raise their consciousness on the need to pursue career in area of entrepreneurship to boost Africa’s economy and promote good governance.

He said: “in 2022, we launched AEMA Inspire University Tour as we will be going to different universities to inspire young Nigerians and Africans to pursue more of their career in entrepreneurship to help the labour market by reducing unemployment in the country and the continent at large.

“We are bringing together people from the agro industry, tech industry, government, sports and other industries.

“They will use their voice to inspire these young people to be huge contributors in the Nigerian economy and Africa as a whole.

“We believe the young generation we have today has to be part of the movement for a better economy.

He added, “We must also create huge awareness for them to participate in politics and governance for us to have good government in Africa and in Nigeria.

“For you to participate in politics, you need good education and with good education, you will be highly productive in the labour market and contribute to the economy so that we can have a better and secured society.”

Temofe said AEMA was poised to advocate for youth inclusion in the country’s economy through its series of developmental programmes.

He explained that the African Economic Merit Awards aims to boost economic growth in African communities by uniting successful business entrepreneurs with the latent talents.

The organisation, he said, works towards giving hope to Africans who have given up the creative ideas and business skills to power ideas of craftsmanship into a successful future.

During the maiden edition, Stakeholders commended the initiative of AEMA, noting that the tour of universities would attract and encourage young entrepreneurs to focus on education, agriculture, technology and health to meet the needs of Nigeria’s teeming population and those in the grassroots.

Guests at the AEMAinspire University Tour Maiden Edition applauded the AEMA’s initiative, urged well-meaning Nigerians and government at all levels to support such programmes.

Stakeholders said it was necessary for the country to engage young entrepreneurs for high level production to grow the economy.

They, therefore, charge youths to engage and focus on AEMA’s programmes to transform the country and make it conducive for businesses to thrive.