University of Zambia (UNZA) students have commended the Finish government and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development for initiating the Accelerated Growth for SMEs (AGS) programme as it has created a synergy between students and companies.
Speaking during the opening of the third AGS workshop at UNZA’s Confucius institute, today, Leah Mumba, a fourth year student in the School of Agriculture said the AGS programme has helped students sharpen their problem solving abilities.
“What we have benefited from the AGS programme is that it has helped us apply what we have learnt in class by exposing us to real life situations and challenges faced by various industries, be it the agricultural or ICT industries,” Mumba said.
Meanwhile, AGS team leader Gareth Evans said the AGS programme aims at building a community among students and companies which will benefit both parties and in turn develop the country economically.
Teija Lehtinon, Senior Advisor at Finland’s HAMK Bio Research Unit added that the programme mainly aims at students in the fields of Development Studies, Forestly, Information and Technology Studies (ICT) among others.
And Hame University Applied Science student, Eeva Lahtinen said the interaction with Zambian students has given her a deeper insight as far as learning new concepts is concerned.
The AGS programme workshop series, which started in March, 2022 is among many initiatives that the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland is undertaking in order to promote business growth and create new partnerships and markets.
The third AGS workshop consists of students and companies from various universities and companies across the country. It will run till April 13, 2022.
Published on April 11, 2022