The School of Business, University of Cape Coast (UCC), has held a durbar to climax its 50th anniversary celebrations.
The colourful event, which was on the theme: “10 years of inspirational leadership and development”, attracted hundreds of people, including traditional rulers, politicians and personalities, as well as students.
The well attended event was on the theme: " University of Cape Coast School of Business@50: Expanding the Frontiers of Business Excellence."
Speaking at the durbar, the Chancellor of the University, Dr. Sir Sam Essoun Jonah, tasked the School of Business to produce graduates who were job creators rather than job seekers.
He stressed that it was important for the younger generation to aim higher by looking out for opportunities to start their businesses and not limit themselves to working for larger corporations.
The Chancellor called on the School to produce students with integrity, maintaining that "smart people without integrity can destroy the entire nation."
"Let this School be a renaissance of transparency, patriotism, ethical decision making," he added.
Dr. Jonah said the School must be globally competitive to produce graduates that were confident to compete at every nook and cranny in the world.
He urged the School to prioritise its research into finding local solutions to Ghanaian problems.
He mentioned exploitation of natural resources, over taxation, industrialisation as some of the challenges facing the African continent.
He used the occasion to commend the School of Business for producing alumni who had achieved remarkable records in Ghana, including Hon. Kwadwo Oppong Nkrumah and Hon. Seth Terkper.
For his part, an alumnus of SoB and former Finance Minister, Seth E. Terkper, said one of the main reasons for the malfeasance at the public sector was the lack ofl proper accounting principles.
He, therefore, asked the School of Business to place premium on government accounting so that the resources of the country would be managed well.
He enumerated some of the successes he chalked up as a finance minister, including the introduction of Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Association of Banks, Mr. Joe Awuah, called on the School to integrate ethics in the delivery of academic programmes.
"We know that ethics is at the bottom of everything. Let us find ways of making ethics a big cornerstone of delivering academic work," he added.
Mr. Awuah implored the School of Business to be at the forefront of national dialogue.
He questioned the contribution of academics during the implementation of policies such as Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), bank sector reforms, COVID era adaptation modules, amongst others.
"These moments should not pass without academic involvement. Economic moments in this country should generate case studies in our business schools so that the next generation of leaders can learn from it, " he added.
The Assurance Partner at ERNST and Young Ghana, Dr. Pamela Des-Bordes, challenged the School of Business to instil in students values of integrity and social responsibility.
She was optimistic that in the next 50 years the School of Business would expand its partnership with industry to produce well-rounded students.
Dr. Des-Bordes urged the School of Business to introduce a curriculum built on digital literacy, entrepreneurship,sustainability to remain relevant in the fast evolving business world.
She hoped that the School of Business would expand its footprints through international accreditation, robust collaboration and continuous faculty development.
For his part, the Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North, Dr. Kwamina Minta Nyarko, challenged the School of Business to take advantage of government initiatives, including the Big Push to access funds.
He said since he took office as Member of Parliament, he had supported the School in various areas and assured that he will continue to help the School to attract the government's attention.
He extolled government policies such as National Research Fund , Student loan Trust, as well as GETFund support to the school.
Dr. Kwamina Minta Nyarko reiterated that his office was open to support students and asked the School to produce graduates who were job creators and not job seekers.
He donated GH₵ 10, 000 cedis to support the anniversary celebration.
In his remarks, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Denis Aheto, congratulated the School for the milestone.
He said the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECOR), where he was the Director, realised the significance of entrepreneurship and therefore, supported the School to expand its Business Incubation Hub.
The Pro Vice-Chancellor noted that in this era of digitalisation, SoB should be able to introduce programmes that target E-commerce, among others.