How the Scholarship Can Help Me Achieve Personal Career Goals

My experience in the digital sector has made me aware of newer opportunities in using digital entrepreneurship to help to build growth-oriented ventures, which can contribute to the net employment growth in Ghana. It is against this backdrop that I have the following post-study career goals. In this essay I give examples how this scholarship can benefit me in achieving personal career goals.

After my postgraduate degree, my short-term plan is to return to Ghana and run my digital startup, Manebra Tech. We offer digital services such as websites and mobiles applications for businesses. In light of the knowledge acquired in Technology Innovation and Commercialisation module, I will implement the new strategies I learnt in scaling up my digital startup and giving opportunity for three young people in my community to be employed. My short-term plan is to develop the adaptability and practical breadth of experience that I gained studying Entrepreneurship in the UK. This scholarship is not only useful for my educational goals and purposes, but most importantly, I will be using the Chevening alumni network to mentor other Chevening scholarship applicants who want the opportunity to study in the UK under the Chevening Scholarship Programme.

In 3-5 years after returning from the UK and accomplishing my immediate goal, I will want to work with DFID to transform small enterprises into larger, more productive companies in Ghana. Recently, our government has prioritised putting in place an appropriate policy framework to expand job creation and diversify the economy in line with Ghana beyond aid programme. Currently, DFID is supporting Ghana's economic development in job creation under the UK - Ghana Partnership for Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) programme. The programme seeks to generate more than 15,000 formal jobs (with a proportionate number going to women). To this end, I will work to critically analyse and discuss relevant principles, methods and challenges of enterprise creation. I will also contribute to helping identify the social, geographical and industrial contexts in which the entrepreneurial process can occur. Consequently, my contribution can help sustain both global and domestic businesses operating in DFID priority sectors to achieve job creation and ensure that the poor fully benefit from the programme.

In the long-term, I see myself in working in a top-level position in a multinational company using a digital platform to offer a growing array of products and services. To this end, I can become an innovative digital partner for the Government of Ghana, in helping to develop a digital technology adoption program to accelerate the digital transformation of the economy.

My focus as a digital entrepreneur, made me believe in the need to reach beyond Ghana, learn about best practices in Entrepreneurship and develop networks and collaborations. Furthermore, I have also come to an understanding of how youth unemployment can be solved using digital entrepreneurship. I look forward to working with Chevening Alumni in the digital sector to conduct digital employable skills training to help reduce youth unemployment in our community. With the Chevening Scholarship, I can grow into a position of influence capable of achieving my career goals.