Reverend Dr Joyce Aryee, the Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministry, has advised the youth to harness the positives of social media to improve their lives instead of the negatives.
According to her, social media had good and bad sides and the youth must explore the good side to enhance their education and lives.
Rev. Dr Aryee gave the advice on Friday during the Lead Yourself Conference for Senior High students held at the Achimota College.
The programme, organised by the David Douglas Leadership Forum (DDLF) in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Accra, was attended by more than 2,500 Senior High School (SHS) students across the country.
They included Adisadel College, Achimota College, St Thomas Aquinas SHS, Labone SHS, Accra Girls’ SHS, O’Reilly SHS, Mando Senior High and Technical School, Mfantsiman SHS, and Presbyterian Senior High School, Osu.
Under the theme “The Importance of Entrepreneurship in National Development”, the objectives of the programme were to equip the students with entrepreneurship, leadership and technical skills to prepare them to be job creators instead of seekers.
Rev. Dr Aryee, who gave the keynote address on the topic “How to Unlock your Potential”, expressed concern about the practice where the youth and students used social media to engage in social vices instead of learning.
She said social media has become a platform where an individual could learn any skill or trade.
The Chief Executive Officer of the KAMA Group of Companies, Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, said the 21st century was a period for technical entrepreneurship, requiring people to create products and services to address the needs and problems of society.
The President of Ghana Traders Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, for his part, said the youth could create their own businesses through the ideas they had, adding that social media could be a veritable means to help the youth create their own businesses.
The Executive Director of DDLF, David Douglas Tengey, said the increasing youth population and the number of students being churned out by the various tertiary institutions did not commensurate with existing jobs, hence the growing unemployment rate in the country.
He said there was the need to promote entrepreneurship in the country, hence the focus of the DDLF on entrepreneurship to equip the students with entrepreneurship skills and knowledge to help the students to become entrepreneurs.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
