UEW Final Year Student Explores Entrepreneurship Talent

 

UEW Undergraduate, Ms. Hawa Alidu 

A final year Art Education undergraduate student of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Ms. Hawa Alidu is bringing to bear her entrepreneurship talent to the world.

Ms. Hawa Alidu is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Miss Muslimah Ghana, an initiative that seeks to promote modesty in Islam. She owns a printing and embroidery company, Cuhaiz Multimedia which is located at Ablekumah Fanmilk in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. She is also the CEO of Lead Youth Empowerment Network (LEYEN), a Non-Governmental Organisation with the mission of inspiring hope in lives through humanitarian activities and transformational impacts.       

As the UEW Students’ Representative Council/National Union of Ghana Students Women’s Commissioner and the 2019 Verna Miss Peace Ambassador, she in collaboration with the UEW Gender Mainstreaming Directorate organised a series of seminars and conferences for women in student leadership. She is the initiator of an award scheme (She Essence Awards) which seeks to acknowledge and honour hard-working and deserving women in tertiary institutions.    

Ms. Hawa Alidu, disclosed in an interview with the UEW Media Relations outfit that even though she is gifted with these skills, she has a passion for teaching and would want to be a professional teacher in future.   

“I have a passion for teaching thus, when I am done with my first degree, I would love to pursue my Master’s and then apply for lectureship. I love everything about teaching; it’s a passion, something I wanted to do since I was a child. So, no matter how industrious I would be in championing the course of entrepreneurship, I am still going to be a teacher and I want to be a professional one,” she affirmed.

The MTN Ghana Bright Scholar commended UEW Management for putting in place stringent measures to protect staff and students from the Covid-19 pandemic and the successful completion of academic work online using UEW’s Learning Management Systems (LMS) during the just ended semester.      

“I am so proud of my school because Management always does their best just for the comfort of students. Our school did the best, looking at how Management was able to handle these whole online academic activities. It was amazing. We were in the house and we thought we could have this online class as part of our regular sessions. Management is doing great and we are proud of them. They should keep making us proud and we want them to keep up with the good work,” she extolled.

Ms. Hawa Alidu encouraged her colleague, undergraduate students, to challenge themselves by ensuring that they develop themselves and are unique in all that they do. She advised them to make good use of any opportunity that might come their way.   

“Let’s not always be looking into one box. Try to fish out for opportunities and when the opportunity comes your way no matter what, try out something. You don’t know what will come out of that very opportunity. So, wherever you find yourself, whether it is something big or small you think you can startup with, startup anyhow. Don’t always wait for opportunity but rather look for opportunities. Stop listening to negative comments, take up the risk and you’ll surely get to wherever you want to get to,” she admonished.

UEW Graduate Operating own Business, Nikhana Media

Mr. Nicholas Cudjoe 

It is said that countries with better educated citizens are more equipped to deal with new challenges and technological advances. It is therefore, in this direction that the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has dedicated itself to train not only professional teachers but also equip its graduates to make meaningful contributions to nation building. 

Mr. Nicholas Cudjoe is a graduate of the UEW; he pursued Graphic Design and graduated in 2018 with a Second Class Upper Division honours. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nikhana Media.

He registered his company in September, 2018 while on his national service and moved into full gear operations right after the service. Nikhana Media is a multimedia firm that provides quality services in website design and hosting, branding, graphic design, book publishing, video production, photography, printing, and embroidery. The business is located at Kakumdo, Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana.   

Speaking in an interview with the UEW Media Relations outfit, he proudly disclosed that the knowledge he acquired at UEW had truly honed his talent and skills. He commended all his Graphic Design lecturers for giving him the needed inspiration that ignited his start-up business.

“We were trained to be confident and were fully equipped for the industry and this was my greatest inspiration. Most times, our lecturers will instill in us the passion to play major roles in the industry after school and to make sure we come out of school without being a burden to society and the nation at large. Learning from this, I made it my greatest ambition to create a start-up right after School.   

“I was also inspired to setup Nikhana Media to help deliver to my target group, products with a professional touch. Another inspiration was to contribute my quota to the development of my motherland by helping employ myself and others to lessen the burden of unemployment in the country,” he recounted.

Mr. Cudjoe revealed that he was looking forward to partnering with his former Department to pave the way for many students from the Department to benefit from his company and experience, by undertaking their industrial attachment there soon. He indicated that he wants his company to have a nationwide presence offering the best in the Print, Film, and Digital media services in the next five years.  

He encouraged the UEW Management to keep up the good work and to continue to invest in the Department of Graphic Design in providing the needed facilities and equipment to help in tutoring and practical work of students.

The CEO of Nikhana Media urged his colleague graduates who are still unemployed to be focused and get something doing.

“It may seem difficult and impossible until they give themselves a chance by trying. So, they must be determined to get something started. All they need to do is to put into practice the knowledge and skills they acquired in school. Do something small today and like a seed planted in the soil, it will germinate, grow, and become a great tree tomorrow.”

Mr. Nicholas Cudjoe was born at Abrem Birase in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) District in the Central Region of Ghana and is the eldest of three children. He schooled in Cape Coast, having received his basic and secondary school education at Tuwohofo Holly International School and University Practice Senior High School respectively.

Currently, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design from UEW. He is an author of two books titled, “The Wholesomeness of God (God is not limited) and Forgiveness Heals”. He is also a songwriter, singer, entrepreneur, preacher, inspirational speaker, and graphic designer.

Mr. Cudjoe resides at Cape Coast with his beloved wife, Mrs. Hannah Cudjoe.

UEW Alumnus Excelling at Entrepreneurship

Mr. Ernest Osei Bonsu

An alumnus of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Mr. Ernest Osei Bonsu is making great exploits at entrepreneurship shortly after attaining his first degree.

Mr. Osei Bonsu studied Home Economics Education with specialisation in Professional Techniques in Clothing Construction. He graduated from the UEW this year (2020) with Second Class Upper Division honours and now holds a Bachelor of Science Degree.

He is currently doing his national service at Techiman Senior High School teaching Foods and Nutrition, and Management in Living. Since assuming duty, he has undertaken several essential practical works in his subject area with his students. 

As a passionate chef and a fashion designer, on the other hand, Mr. Osei Bonsu registered his own company, Ernestob Enterprise, while he was in his first year at the UEW in 2016. Ernestob Enterprise consists of six categories; Food Court, Bakery, Fashion, Millinery, Floral and Bridal Decoration, and manufacturing of Cleansing Agent.

Ernestob Enterprise also organises skills training in fashionable millinery, food court, and pastries.  The company currently has about 15 workers. 

Mr. Osei Bonsu recently launched a business magazine to announce his quality services to the nation. Speaking in an interview with UEW Media Relations outfit on the inspiration behind the release of his magazine, he revealed, “normally every company has its own standards, but as for Ernestob, my standards and the innovation I want to bring on board is the reason I decided to come out with the magazine”.  

“Actually, I have six different categories when it comes to Ernestob Enterprise. We deal in food court, bakery, fashion, millinery making, floral and bridal décor in addition to the manufacturing of cleaning agent. So, I just decided to document all these creative ideas so that in case anyone wants to assist Ernestob to grow into a giant, he or she would appreciate the essence of the business when he or she picks the magazine; the magazine will speak about the brand,” he asserted.

Mr. Osei Bonsu revealed his willingness to broaden his intellectual scope and appealed for support in this direction.  

“I registered the company in 2016 and now, this is how far we’ve come. I really need financial support from corporate institutions set up to help startup businesses to expand. Also, I implore well-meaning Ghanaian and philanthropists to support my education to the highest level to broaden my horizon and give me the greater impetus to create more avenues to employ my fellow youth,” he beseeched. 

He encouraged the youth particularly the males not to shy away from pursuing Home Economics at all levels of education because the subject could enable one to create his or her own job and also employ others to help solve the problem of rising unemployment that is threatening the future of the youth in Ghana.   

Mr. Osei Bonsu lauded the ruling government for the one district one factory initiative. He said “I support the one district one factory policy by the government because it is a great and a creative idea. The initiative will help the youngsters to make good use of the nation’s natural resources and other raw materials. I, for instance, produce a lot of different kinds of bread using our local ingredients”.

He entreated all Ghanaians to support this innovative idea since it would create job opportunities for the younger generation who are mostly unemployed.

Mr. Osei Bonsu’s drive and initiative is in line with the Vice-Chancellor of his alma mater, Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni’s call on graduands at his graduation ceremony to dare to create jobs by themselves and they’d be amazed at what they can achieve.

From very humble beginnings, Mr. Bonsu has started something that will eventually crystalise into something big in this country.  

Angel Group of Companies Supports UEW to Fight Against COVID-19

A renowned Ghanaian enterprise, Angel Group of Companies, producers of Adonko Bitters has supported the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) with personal protective products to fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  

The items include 50 cartons of Adonko hand sanitiser, five cartons of Adonko next level energy drink, ten Veronica buckets, ten hand washing bowls, ten dustbins, ten packs of paper towels and one box of liquid soap.

The donation was done yesterday, Wednesday, 15^th July, 2020 at the forecourt of the administration block of the UEW at North Campus, Winneba.

The Marketing Manager, Adonko Bitters Limited, Mr. Vincent Opare, who presented the items to the UEW Management on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of Angel Group, Dr. Kwaku Oteng, stated that the donation formed part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibilities to the nation.  

“It is our concern once we live in a society to make sure that if there is any suffering, we go closer to the community to help. This is one of the examples that we have been showing to society,” he said.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Andy Ofori-Birikorang, thanked the donor on behalf of the University Management. He stressed that the items would be used for the intended purpose.  

“I am even glad by the fact that one of our own through a network that he has established with Angel Group of Companies and through the Director for the Institute for Distance and e-Learning (IDeL), Prof. Francis Owusu Mensah have together made this possible.

“UEW is grateful to you for several reasons; over the last four months, we have within our meager resources and support from Government been able to manage the pandemic and its effect on our institution. So, coming in at this time is very refreshing; we are grateful to you,” the Pro-Vice-Chancellor emphasised.   

In brief remarks, the Registrar, Surv. Paul Osei-Barima Esq. appealed to the donor to consider instituting a scholarship scheme for the brilliant but needy students in the University.

“We are very much grateful for your assistance to the University. This relationship is going to be a lasting one. As a University, we train the manpower of the nation and if a pandemic hits us badly, it means that it is affecting everybody. So, I am very much delighted that Adonko has identified that wherever there are students, we have high hope and risk,” he indicated.   

UEW to hold Virtual Congregation in August

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Prof. Andy Ofori-Birikorang has given a hint on Management’s decision to hold a virtual congregation for final year students, who have met the requirement for graduation, in August, 2020.

He disclosed that Management was earnestly putting the necessary arrangements in place to graduate the final year students who utilised the Learning Management System (LMS) to complete their semester and to do their project work.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor affirmed this on Monday, 13^th July, 2020 at the Council Chamber, North Campus, Winneba when the UEW-LMS Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (ULMEC) had an encounter with the press to brief them on the hassle-free end of semester examination on the LMS.    

“We are pleased with our performance. We are also pleased with the principles that we began with and these principles have successfully helped us to bring the semester to a logical conclusion. We have not even ended, all our final year students have utilised the system to submit their end of semester papers and their project works and we are on course to graduating them in August.”

“By the end of August, hopefully, every final year student who has met the requirements for graduation will be graduated; and the graduation is also going to be virtual. We are planning it,” he stated.”  

Prof. Ofori-Birikorang pointed out that 65,000 regular students had registered on the Moodle by the end of the semester. According to him, however, out of the 65,000 students, 57,000 representing 88% of participants wrote the exams and also took part in all quizzes. 

“Even though we had that 12% deficit, those students have not been left out. Last week, we rolled out supplementary exams for them, we are yet to take the statistics but many of them have been able to write the supplementary quizzes. From this week through to next week, we are running supplementary examinations for all those who couldn’t write the exams to have the opportunity to. We are giving these two chances, the exams and the supplementary. Those, who for any justifiable reasons are unable to write exams for the supplementary, they will be given the opportunity when we reopen,” he said.  

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor declared that UEW was one of the first universities to have gone through the system successfully in a hustle-free manner for which every student would attest to that fact.

“Last week Friday we had a webinar in which our student leaders participated; and now, when we started, people were saying that the LMS is a hoax, now they are praising it. The final year students even didn’t want to come back to campus because the LMS was working efficiently.

“So, because of the successes, because of the new normal, University Management has decided that going forward, the learning management system is going to be part of our teaching and learning activities. And so beginning with the sandwich, all sandwich teaching and learning activities will also be online because we are still in the pandemic mood. We are hoping that when we start the 2020/2021 academic year, 30% of all teaching and learning activities in the regular form will be online and 70% will be face-to-face provided the pandemic is over,” he stated.

Prof. Ofori-Birikorang again indicated that the University would be using the LMS to conduct entrance exams for about 14,000 mature applicants. “UEW took the challenge, we showed that we have the resilience and the courage; we worked within our meager resources, we upscaled our servers and system even though we need more but within the limited resources, we have been able to bring the semester to a logical conclusion.”

He expressed Management’s appreciation to students and lecturers for the massive support provided to bring the semester to a logical conclusion.        

Klopp to Avert LFC 30 Years EPL jinx? Unbelievable!

It has been 30 years since Liverpool Football Club won its 18^th premier league title. The club has been struggling to attain its 19^th title and it even got close to winning the title in the 2013/2014 and 2018/2019 seasons.

The time Liverpool FC (LFC) won the English Premier League (EPL) was during the 1989/1990 season with a legend of the club, Sir Kenny Dalglish (King Kenny), the manager at the time. A year after winning Liverpool’s 18^th EPL title, King Kenny resigned due to the Hillsborough disaster.

Graeme Souness was named successor of Kenny Dalglish after first-team coach, Ronnie Moran, steered the affairs of the team for several weeks. Souness won Liverpool the FA Cup in 1992 and made way for Roy Evans, who also replicated the achievement of his predecessor by winning just one trophy, the League Cup. This was before Gerard Houllier was appointed joint manager with Evans in 1998. 

Houllier went trophy-less until a treble in 2001, comprising the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. Two years later, Houllier won another League Cup but he and the club parted by mutual consent at the end of the 2003/2004 season. He was replaced by Valencia manager Rafael Benitez. Benitez was successful in his first two seasons. He won the fifth Champions League title and the seventh FA Cup Competition for the club. He was also the finalist in the 2007 UEFA Champions League. 

Benitez later had issues with the owners of the club regarding the transfer of a few players in the year 2010 which led to his exit. He was replaced by Roy Hodgson who spent less than a year at the club. LFC then appointed Sir Kenny Dalglish as manager of the club for the second time. Kenny joined the club at a time where the glorious days of LFC had vanished. LFC did not win any major trophies for six years until veteran Kenny led them to victory in just less than two years as manager of the club. He won the EFL Cup for LFC in the year 2012 but that was not enough to save his job at the club. Consequently, he was axed from his duty and Brendan Rodgers who was then managing the affairs of Swansea City took charge of LFC. 

Rodgers became the longest serving coach of the club after Rafael Benitez. He spent over three years at LFC and achieved nothing for them. His only achievement was getting close to winning the EPL title in the year 2014 but lost to Chelsea FC at Anfield and drew at Crystal Palace on matchday 36 and 37 respectfully to allow Manchester City claim their second in two years. 

Then suddenly out of the blue, the “Normal One” Jurgen Klopp as he describes himself took over from Rodgers in October, 2015 after taking some months break from his previous job at Borussia Dortmund. Klopp did incredibly well in his first half season. He went to two finals with the club but lost both finals to his opponents. He started building his team and promised the club a major trophy within four years, to which he fulfilled.

Before winning a major trophy for LFC, he lost again in a final to Real Madrid in the year 2018 and placed fourth in the EPL of the same season. The three successive defeat in a final didn’t frustrate his focus for LFC. He stayed resolute and went all the way to the finals of the 2019 UEFA Champions League and this time around he was able to lead his team to a win by 2-0 against Tottenham Hotspurs, leading to LFC’s sixth European title. The successes of Klopp didn’t end there. He also won against fellow English counterpart Chelsea FC, leading to the winning of the UEFA Super Cup and went on to set a record for LFC as the first English club to win international treble after beating Flamingo 1-0 to clinch the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup trophy. 

The 2019/2020 premier league season started with loads of agitation, as to whether Manchester city would win their third consecutive EPL title or LFC would bounce back stronger after losing the title to the former during the previous season by just a point. However, things changed drastically and LFC learnt their lessons. They started the campaign extremely well by winning all their games with just a draw against their nemesis, Manchester United, in the first round. The point gap became so wide to the extent that second placed Manchester City conceded defeat. Everybody thought that the 30 years EPL jinx would be broken this time around by the German talisman until the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hit the world badly to halt all global activities.

Fans of the club became sad, worried, nervous and confused on whether the 19^th premier league title for LFC would become a reality or not.  All hopes were lost as the Dutch Eredivisie was declared void. Also, other top flight European leagues were cancelled as a result of the pandemic. This broke the heart of many LFC fans as they may be deprived of the title should the league be abandoned.

The German Bundesliga however, broke the odd and resumed their league on 16^th May with fascinating games, goals and celebrations. Once the Bundesliga is back on track, then there is the possibility of the EPL returning to action as well.

Now, the good news for all LFC fans is that the premier league clubs have started training and the league is expected to kick start in the first week of June. So, in that regard, I confidently believe that the LFC 30 years EPL jinx would be averted this time around by the legendary, Jurgen Norbert Klopp. The plans of enemies aren’t the plans of God, our maker!

You’ll Never Walk Alone (YNWA).

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School of Business Achieves Another Milestone for UEW

the School of Business team in a group photograph with the Vice-Chancellor and some staff of the UEW

Another academic milestone has been achieved by the School of Business, University of Education, Winneba (UEW) at the second edition of the Tertiary Business Sense Challenge organised by Graphic Business in partnership with the Ministry of Business Development and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana.  

The UEW School of Business placed fourth out of 19 participating institutions across the country. The Business School eliminated well known institutions such as University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and African University College of Communications (AUCC) at various stages of the competition. The UEW team was beaten in the semi-finals by the eventual winners, University of Development Studies (UDS). 

The contest was to test the business knowledge of tertiary students and how they could apply what they learn in school to real life experiences. 

On Wednesday, 11^th March, 2020, the team paid a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni to report on its performances at the competition.  

Dean, School of Business, Dr. Braimah Imurana 

The Dean, School of Business, Dr. Braimah Awaisu Imurana leading the team to the Vice-Chancellor expressed the team’s heartfelt appreciation to Management for the immense support offered and enabled them to perform better than they did in the first edition of the competition. He assured the Vice-Chancellor of concrete measures to be put in place to ensure that UEW wins the third edition.  

Vice-Chancellor of UEW, Rev. Fr. Prof. Afful-Broni 

The Vice-Chancellor, who was impressed by the team’s performance, charged the Dean to ensure that the contestants further their education in UEW to become future leaders of their alma mater.  “Let us put in place systems that will support them so that there is almost an automatic assurance of employment immediately upon graduation.”    

The contestants that made UEW proud were the captain of the team and a level 400 Accounting Student, Celestine Esi Adzayi; level 400 Accounting Student, Samuel Mawunyo Sovor; and level 300 Accounting Student, Richmond Adu Addo. The reserve/research team consisted of Seth Ashigbui (level 300 Accounting), Belinda Ohenewaa Asare (level 400 Banking and Finance), Marcus Obuadey Tetteh (level 200 Accounting) and Rebecca Baah (level 200 Procurement and Chain Management). They were coached Mr. Samuel Gameli Gadzo and assisted by former contestant for UEW, Aaron Owusu Ansah.