CUIB students rewarded for innovation, creation

After an 11-day entrepreneurship and academic fair organised by the Catholic University Institute of Buea, CUIB, some students have been awarded prizes for outstanding performances.

They distinguished themselves in doing business, attending to customers and innovative creations among which were an era slicing machine, an uninterrupted power supply system, a biogas system, among others.

Addressing the students after missing the fair for two years, the President of the institute, Rev. Fr. Gorge Nkeze, lauded the efforts of the students in trying to make a difference in the field of entrepreneurship.

On teamwork and collaboration, Fr. Nkeze appreciated the students for striving to succeed as a group, thereby being one another’s keeper. As would-be business persons,Fr. Nkeze cautioned the students to be innovators who would not just dictate on their employees, but taking into consideration the fact that they deserve to be told why their pay will come late as well as treating them with dignity as human beings.

The President also regretted the fact that the world sees Africa as a nation that needs aid.In his view, any support to Africans should be towards capacity building and not trying to provide for Africans.

He said the ideologies of colonisation have turned Africans from being one another’s keeper to be constantly engaged in the philosophy that ignores a brother in order to have the pie alone

This year’s edition of the entrepreneurship and academic fair had as theme; “Economy of Communion in Action.”

With an increase in attendance from 40,000 in 2015, to 43,000 in 2016, the institute also celebrated that after graduating two batches, it has been ranked second after the university of Buea in classifications by the Nchianang Consulting Firm that classifies institutions based on impact on community and industry.

The President averred that, instead of teaching students how to fish, they have decided to fish with the students to better impart the knowledge and skills needed to survive in today’s business world.

The assertion was supported by the Vicar General of Buea Diocese, Rev Bernard Asek, who said CUIB is reforming education in Cameroon by promoting and implementing entrepreneurship.