Umsu unveils strategic plan on entrepreneurship

University of Malawi Students Union (Umsu) on Monday unveiled its strategic plan on empowering students to embark on entrepreneurship for them to effectively contribute to the country’s economy after graduation.

Umsu treasurer Patience Silungwe said the students’ grouping wants to be in the forefront in improving the welfare of students during and after school.

Said Silungwe: “This strategic plan is an essential tool that will guide Umsu leadership to realise its goals. The main goal is to inject interest in students to embark on entrepreneurship soon after graduating from the university.

“Currently, one of the challenges graduates face is unemployment; hence, if more graduating students join entrepreneurship, the country can create more new jobs.”

She said University of Malawi (Unima) students learn a lot of things in class that when applied through entrepreneurship may help to improve the economy of the country.

“We want the students to be more productive than before. Entrepreneurship is the best way which can easily boost the gross domestic product (GDP) of this country,” she said.

Currently, Umsu has started approaching corporate organisations on how the two can work together for the student to achieve their goals.

Silungwe, a fourth year bachelor of business communication student at the Polytechnic, said apart from convincing money-lending institutions to loosen their conditions on fresh graduates who want to venture into entrepreneurship, they are also establishing relationships with organisations so that the companies should offer internship opportunities to Unima students during holidays.

“Internship can help students to have experience which they can use later as entrepreneurs after graduation,” she said.

Most of the graduates from the country’s universities find it tough to secure employment after completing their education, and can also not venture into business because of lack of capital and entrepreneurship skills.