Dean of the KNUST School of Business, Prof. Nathaniel Boso has been named one of the Chairs from ten African Universities to host the O.R. Tambo Africa Research Chairs Initiative (ORTARChI). The chair will among others expand research and innovation capacities in and for Africa.

Speaking at the launch, Prof. Boso said he is hopeful his outfit will attract excellent researchers and scientists within Africa’s higher education system and contribute to Africa’s global research competitiveness while responding to the continent’s socio-economic needs.

“This chair wants to find empirical evidence to establish to academics around the world, to practitioners and policymakers that when we allow the African society to be driven by entrepreneurship, we can be on the way to creating new jobs, not any kind of job but sustainable jobs, jobs that pay well.

“And if we are able to create these jobs, our argument is that unemployment will subsequently come down,” he said.

According to Director of strategic partnerships, National Research Foundation of South Africa, Dorothy Ngila, the chair seeks to honour and promote the legacy of O.R. Tambo, emulating his values of professional excellence, integrity, inclusiveness, honesty, humility and respect for human dignity.

The Chair will enable the KNUST School of Business to conduct relevant research and support high-end skills development under thematic areas in the Humanities and Social Sciences. It will focus on technology, entrepreneurship and youth employability.

It aims at using transformative research and educational engagement initiatives to harness the potential of African youth to create new jobs and drive the conversations on youth employability in sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition to public and private sectors in Ghana, the Research Chair for the KNUST will also partner some African institutions such as the University of South Africa and the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and the Alex Ekwueme Federal University in Nigeria, and Strathmore University in Kenya.

ORTARChI is an initiative of South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in partnership with the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation (OATF); Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and seven councils of the Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI).

The KNUST Chair comes with an award of USD 215 000 per annum for a period of 5 years with a potential for extension for another 5 years.