Our Focus On Entrepreneurship Will Make Ajayi Crowther Varsity Top Choice For Parents, Students — VC

Members of the Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Oyo, management delegation led by the vice chancellor, Professor Timothy Adebayo (second right); librarian, Dr Beatrice Fabunmi (first right) and deputy Vice-chancellor, Professor Muyiwa Popoola (third right) during the inspection of an award stage constructed by some 200-level students of the institution during their recent entrepreneurship exhibition.

Vice-Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Professor Timothy Adebayo, Oyo has vowed that attention to entrepreneurship development will soon make the university a top choice for students and their parents.

Professor Adebayo stated this on Friday last week during the university’s exhibition of entrepreneurship projects carried out by students of the university.

Adebayo, who was represented by the institution’s deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Muyiwa Popoola, noted that the entrepreneurship programme of the institution was in line with the requirements of the National Universities Commission (NUC).

He added that the programme had started yielding results as the students have started creating good products that are needed in the society.

The VC said: “In terms of entrepreneurial development of students, ACU is a force to reckon with. The students must not leave the university without vocational and entrepreneurial skills. “This exhibition shows that our attention to entrepreneurial development is becoming more rewarding and impactful. In no distant time, our admission statistics will speak in that regard as parents will bring their wards here to study and learn vocational skills.”

He also pledged that the university will, before the next exhibition programme, commence the construction of “a befitting centre for entrepreneurship training in the university” which will be in line with the request of the leadership of the centre.

Earlier in his address, the Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre, Professor Oyeyemi Oshin, had asked the university to provide it with a building that could be used as a workshop and also an incubation centre, while noting that the former entrepreneurship centre had been converted to a centre for the part-time studies and engineering laboratory.

He also urged the university to support the centre to harness the students’ skills to boost the university’s revenue.

“With an entrepreneurship centre, the training of students will be highly enhanced.

“The students have made books and souvenirs which can be used at university events. As I speak, they are repairing broken chairs in the lecture rooms. The university should patronize the centre for Entrepreneurship in the areas where the students have displayed expertise.

“Though this is the last exhibition that I will be witnessing as the director of the centre, I will keep in touch with the entrepreneurship projects of the university. Also, I shall sponsor a cooking exhibition at the eighth edition of the entrepreneurship exhibition. It was part of our projects from the beginning, but it was discontinued due to lack of sponsorship. However, I shall revive and sponsor it,” Professor Oshin said.

At the exhibition, the students, who were distributed into different units, showcased products they had made under the supervision of the university technical staff members.

The units are carpentry, metal works, beads, shoes and bag making, agribusiness, hairstyling and make-up, auto-mechanical works, catering and confectionery, graphics and creative arts, electrical engineering works, alternative energy (solar), households and consumables, tie and dye, computer-aided designs, tailoring, computer hardware, and mobile phone repairs, horticulture, e-publishing and masonry, and block-making units.

One of the exhibitors, Oyindamola Adegbite, a 200-level student of statistics, explained to the university management delegation how they combined different chemicals including ammonia, calcium carbonate, titanium oxide, and pigments to make text coat and emulsion paints.

Another student, Richard Kuteyi, a 200-level student of the department of mechanical engineering led his team to partially service a Toyota Camry car by changing the oil filters and treatment among others.