The Simon Diedon Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) has held it maiden research conference on business and development at the university in Wa.
The research conference also focuses on community transformation in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was hinged on the theme: “Transforming Communities and Enterprise Development Amidst Covid-19 through Impactful Research and Scholarship”.
Addressing participants at the conference on Wednesday, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Philip Duku Osei, noted that the university was working towards achieving its goal of supporting the development of the region through research.
He said the university is also aimed to develop the skills of the people, improving business and creating job opportunities to benefit the communities they served.
That, he said, formed part of the core objectives of the university as stipulated by the act that establishes it.
Prof. Osei, who also chaired the function, explained that the SDD UBIDS was established as a third generation university with mandate of understanding the environment in which it operates to enable it contribute to the meeting the challenges of that environment.
“An organization that understand it environment and accept the responsibilities of the problem is there is a successful organization because it is able to then turn knowledge into know how that is able to solve the problems of the region”, he explained.
Talking on the COVID-19 Pandemic, Professor Osei indicated that the university surmounted the challenges presented by the pandemic to achieve a successful academic year.
He said the leadership of the university put in measures and strategies to create conducive environment for teaching and learning to thrive in the midst of the pandemic.
The Acting Pro Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Emmanuel Kanchebe Deribile, observed that despite the challenges the school is faced with including inadequate infrastructure and limited funding for research, the university was still excelling in its work including the research output of the university.
On his part, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Cape Coat, Professor Akwasi Kumi-Kyereme, in his keynote address, noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had posed a serious challenge to business develop and job creation in the country.
He said it had posed a challenge to the realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to its impact on the economy, health and other sectors.
He said the Covid-19 had also made sustainability of Small and Medium Scale enterprise very difficult among other impacts.
Prof. Kumi-Kyereme therefore acknowledged the intervention of the SDD UBIDS in development discourse, particularly through research.
He expressed hope that the university would support scholarship and research to sustain its contribution of the university to the development of businesses in the region and country at large.