President of Ghana, John Mahama, has warned that progressive youthful business ideas would not translate to national development without affordable and accessible finance. 
   
He said it behooves the governments, financial institutions, universities and the private sector to help create the enabling environment for those youthful ideas to survive, grow and scale.
   
In his speech themed “From Certificate to Enterprise: Africa’s Graduates as Architects of the Continent’s Economic Future,” at the maiden convocation ceremony of the University of Offa in Kwara State, Mahama stressed that businesses need affordable finance. 
   
Mahama, who was represented by Ghana’s High Commissioner-designate to Nigeria, Baba Abdulai Abu, noted that innovators need patient capital, adding that “enterprises need efficient payment systems and market access.
   
“It will be paradoxical for us to tell young Africans to become entrepreneurs but deny them access to finance, infrastructure and opportunity. We would have offered them an aspiration without the tools to realise it.”
   
He emphasised that the responsibility for creating the enabling environment for national growth and development lies not only with tertiary schools but also with the government.
   
According to him, young people must bring their ideas, energy and courage, while governments, financial institutions, universities and the private sector must help create the enabling environment in which those ideas can survive, grow and scale.
   
Therefore, he urged the University of Offa, where eight students bagged First Class among the 140 first degree graduates, to make enterprise, research, and innovation integral to its identity.
   
Mahama further cautioned against the unchecked number of graduates with theories but lacking in practical knowledge, regretting that “modern African universities cannot be satisfied merely with producing graduates who can pass examinations. It must help students learn how to solve problems.”
 
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kazeem Gbolagade, said 54 graduates bagged Second Class Upper degrees, 76 Second Class Lower degrees, and two graduates had Third Class honours.