The University of Abuja has launched a new initiative aimed at transforming students’ ideas, research and innovations into viable businesses and job opportunities.

The initiative will at the initial stage support 10 pioneer students with entrepreneurship development, mentorship and practical enterprise opportunities.

Speaking at the unveiling of the initiative yesterday in Abuja , the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Babatunde Fawehinmi, said the initiative was part of efforts to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and the marketplace.saying the institutions should no longer limit their responsibilities to teaching and research but must ensure that knowledge translates into practical solutions to societal problems.

Fawehinmi said UniAbuja has considerable expertise in science, technology, agriculture, social sciences and management sciences that could be harnessed to address challenges confronting society.

He urged the pioneer beneficiaries to take full advantage of the opportunity, describing them as important stakeholders and potential ambassadors of the university’s new enterprise-driven model.

The Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and Students Mentorship (CEDSM), Prof. Adeniran Lateef Ariyo, said the initiative was designed to take students beyond classroom learning and expose them to the realities of the marketplace.

Ariyo said the university possessed knowledge and expertise capable of solving real-world problems and creating businesses, adding that the centre would provide students with the platform to turn such knowledge into viable enterprises.

“The knowledge we have in our university has a lot of potential to solve real problems and make business,” he said.

He added that the initiative would strengthen collaboration between the university, industry and society while enabling students to apply their knowledge to real economic challenges.

Representing the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, Deputy Director in the ministry, Okoro Nkechinyere, said the initiative was consistent with the Federal Government’s efforts to promote innovation, industrialisation, local production and job creation.

Okoro said universities must establish a stronger link between research and innovation, innovation and commercialisation, and enterprise and job creation.

“Graduates should leave the university with more than a certificate. The graduate should also possess skills, ideas, confidence and capacity to create value,” she said.

She called for increased collaboration among universities, industry, investors and financial institutions to facilitate the commercialisation of research findings and scale up promising innovations.

According to her, the success of the initiative should be assessed by the number of enterprises created, innovations commercialised, jobs generated and investments attracted, rather than by the number of programmes organised.

Also speaking, the GIZ Team Lead for the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem under the Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Development and Decent Employment (SEDIN) programme, Baba Femi Oyederin, who represented the GIZ Country Director for Nigeria and ECOWAS, Markus Wagner, said entrepreneurship education must be practical rather than theoretical.

Oyederin said micro, small and medium enterprises were critical to Nigeria’s economy and employment generation, making practical entrepreneurship education essential to addressing the country’s development challenges.

He said entrepreneurship went beyond possessing a skill, explaining that an entrepreneur must be able to identify a market opportunity, develop a solution, position it effectively and build a sustainable business around it.

He encouraged students to identify problems within their communities and develop commercially viable solutions instead of viewing entrepreneurship merely as an alternative to paid employment.

Oyederin said GIZ was willing to deepen its partnership with the University of Abuja to strengthen its entrepreneurship ecosystem and support implementation of the initiative.

The Enterprise University model is expected to give students access to mentorship, enterprise development, innovation, market opportunities and research commercialisation.

The university said it planned to expand the initiative beyond the 10 pioneer beneficiaries as part of efforts to build a sustainable platform for producing entrepreneurs, commercialising innovations and creating jobs.