Obinna Odogwu, Awka
A special research aimed at establishing the cause of the seeming decline in apprenticeship practice as a business training model in Igboland has been launched at the business school of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, UNIZIK Business School.
The research, sponsored by a political economist, Dr Obiora Okonkwo, is targeted at finding out the challenges being faced in markets in Onitsha and other parts of the state which led to the seeming dwindling of apprenticeship practice as business training model in the South East.
The research, Invigorating Igbo Entrepreneurial Behaviour Through Enhanced Apprenticeship Scheme: A Study of Onitsha Markets, Anambra State, was sponsored through the Pro-Value Humanity Foundation. It was held at Sharon Hall, Onitsha.
Speaking at the event, Okonkwo said: “The apprenticeship scheme in its original model has, undoubtedly, served us well up to this point. However, the world of commerce is drastically changing and we must reinvent the apprenticeship system to be responsive to the business and industrial needs of today, along with the skills acquisition and value chain such new processes require.
“Such reinvention may also include mentorship, partnerships, financial assistance by way of soft loans, loan guarantees, among others between established businesses and emerging ones. These will help continue the Ora Nwezue Aku philosophy that was a key driving force of the apprenticeship scheme.
“As we all can agree, the only thing constant in life is change and we can either innovate and adjust to the times or gradually slide into irrelevance. Further, it is vital that the project also help identify emergent entrepreneurial and investment opportunities, including hi-tech and biotech start-ups with potential value chains that current generation Igbo Entrepreneurs can key into to help drive the re-industrialization of Anambra State in particular and the South East in general.”