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| Austin Okere |
The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Computer
Warehouse Group (CWG) Mr. Austin Okere addressed the fourth Executive MBA
graduation ceremony of the China Europe International Business School’s Africa
Programme in Accra recently.
Okere who was a short time ago made the Entrepreneur in Residence of the
Columbia Business School, New York, told the grandaunts in his address as
gathered by DigitalSENSE Business
News entitled “This is our time” highlighted entrepreneurship opportunities
on the continent of Africa and the need to urgently equip ourselves to take
full advantage.
“It is better to have a thousand millionaires than ten billionaires. It
is better still to have a million people with access to a hundred thousand
dollars, if they can be taught how to nurture and grow it through
entrepreneurial endeavour.”
According to him, he likes to put the story of the Computer Warehouse
Group out there because such success stories contribute immensely to the
attraction of capital to the region, which combined with the entrepreneurial
acumen and the youthful population unleashes waves of economic boom.
Africa, he said, has a rapidly growing young population, which could
bring a democratic dividend if optimally tapped, or constitute a source of
social unrest, if millions of Africans continue to enter the labour market
without any hope of employment.
Entrepreneurship, as said by him, is the catalyst for economic growth as
it provides the most viable vehicle for job creation.
Stressing that his passion for entrepreneurial advocacy stems from his
desire to see the Human Capital gainfully engaged through sustainable Start Ups
rather than chasing non-existent jobs.
Okere, the founder of CWG also cited a survey of 3,692 MIT alumni who graduated
between 1987 and 2007, noting that the result showed that 40 per cent of
respondents have started their own companies, with 70 per cent doing so within
five years of graduation, while, 41 per cent of PhD alumni have a patent or
invention.
He pointed out that this could not have been possible without the strong
entrepreneurship education and encouragement that America offers.
Thus, he urged the fresh MBA graduates to go out there and leave their
footprints in the sands of time, having received the crucial empowerment.
DigitalSENSE Business News
also gathered that other speakers at the occasion included Mr. Gong Jianzhong,
Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Mary Brown, Deputy Managing Director of Prudential
Bank/CEIBS Alumni representative, and Dr Marisa Del Pozo, Professor at Complutense University.
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