Promoting Entrepreneurship in Schools
MTN Foundation Hands over an Incubator to the Ministry of Secondary Education
In a collaboration aimed at fostering innovation, technical and vocational skills among students, the Ministry of Secondary Education joined forces with MTN Foundation to inaugurate and handover an incubator to Lycée Polyvalent Bonaberi, Douala. This incubator transforms plastic waste to pavement tiles.
The ceremonial handover and inauguration of the incubator took place on Friday, 26 January 2024, at the school premises, marking a landmark in the advancement in technical and vocational education in the Region. In attendance were the Minister of Secondary Education, Professor Nalova Lyonga, and top rank officials of her ministerial department, the representative of the Governor of Littoral Region, government officials, MTN Foundation’s representatives, traditional authorities, and school staff and students.
During the ceremony, the CEO of MTN Cameroon, Mitwa Kaemba Ngambi, affirmed that the incubator will be used to transform plastic waste to pave stones and is worth 71 million Francs CFA. The workshop lies on a surface area of 360 square meters and is made up of a classroom, an office, a storage area, lavatories and the incubator; with the incubator having five main machines.
The Minister of Secondary Education, Professor Nalova Lyonga, expressed her gratitude to MTN Foundation for their invaluable support in enhancing technical and vocational education; emphasizing the importance of equipping students with the necessary skills and resources to become self-employed and contribute to the economic growth of the nation.
The ceremonial speeches were followed by the official ribbon-cutting, symbolizing the formal handover of the incubator to Lycée Polyvalent Bonaberi.
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Professor Nalova Lyonga highlighted that “...school entrepreneurship can become a real way of getting into employment ... students of this school will be able to go out and set up their own workshops in the villages and make these pavements. Technical and Vocational Education is the life wire for the emergence of our country”.
In addition to the incubator, the Ministry of Secondary Education and the MTN Foundation have committed to providing ongoing awareness campaigns to sensitize the inhabitants of Douala to channel all plastic waste to Lycée Polyvalent Bonaberi for processing.
By JOSO Sophie
ARO2/CELCOM