Editorial: Youth Economic Forum ‘compulsory’ for some UPSA students

The 2026 Youth Economic Forum (YEF) was organised last week by Business and Financial Times (B&FT) in partnership Ecobank Ghana.

It rallied young entrepreneurs to build scalable businesses – shifting the focus from capital access alone to developing structured systems, disciplined execution and strategic partnerships.

Held at the University of Professional Studies-Accra (UPSA), the one-day forum – themed ‘From Potential to Prosperity: Youth Driving the New Economy’ – brought together students, entrepreneurs, policymakers and corporate leaders .

Dr. Godwin Acquaye, Chief Executive Officer-B&FT, in his opening remarks explained that the forum is designed to complement the long-running Ghana Economic Forum by focusing specifically on youth enterprises.

“This is our third edition,” he said, noting that this initiative is driven by the conviction empowering young people will strengthen the economy over time.

For its part, Ecobank Ghana signalled that youth enterprise will form a large part of its strategic focus. The bank is preparing to launch a youth-specific initiative.

Professor John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, Vice-Chancellor of UPSA, noted that many youth-led ventures struggle to transition from ideas to sustainable operations due to limited mentorship and weak internal systems.

Consequently, UPSA has introduced mandatory courses in entrepreneurship and ethics as part of its curriculum. The Youth Economic Forum forms part of that training pathway and is compulsory for certain students.

However, the Vice-Chancellor expressed concern over what he described as declining integrity among the youth.

“Students and society are becoming more corrupt. As a university, we identified this gap and decided to instil ethical values. This led to the introduction of mandatory courses in ‘Fundamentals of Ethics’ alongside entrepreneurship.”

The keynote entrepreneurship session was led by Dr. Maxwell Ampong – Chief Executive Officer of Maxwell Investment Group – and focused on the transition from side-hustles to scalable enterprises.

The ability of young entrepreneurs to move from ideation to structured growth will also hinge on macroeconomic conditions, including credit availability and consumer demand.

From a governance perspective, scalable enterprises are defined more by process integrity than founder intensity. Even in founder-led ventures, this principle appears through advisory boards, financial transparency, compliance systems and performance metrics.

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