LBS TASKS MEDIA ON FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS

By NBF News

By PROVIDENCE OBUH
In commemoration of its 20th anniversary, the Lagos Business School LBS,also known as the Pan African University has tasked the media on the need to celebrate core entrepreneurs in the society, saying it will attract students with entrepreneurial idea's and enhance the country's business environment through entrepreneurship.

Speaking during a media parley, as parts of events commemorating its anniversary, Mrs Uchora Udoji, a lecturer on Organisational behaviour, said while the real entrepreneurs are neglected, people who are not entrepreneurs are celebrated on the front page of newspapers, discouraging students with entrepreneurial ideas.

Lamenting the extent to which Nigerian students are discouraged by this media attitude, Udoji asked; 'How can we get our students to strive to be entrepreneurs when our real entrepreneurs are not celebrated?'

Asking further, she said 'How do we encourage our students to follow the tougher but more honorable path when society celebrates 'miraculously lucky companies' who get 'miraculous hunches' that lead to 'miraculous share price increases' and 'miraculous profits?'

She said it is high time the media celebrated the real entrepreneurs,using it as a benchmark to further reiterate the importance of entrepreneurship and self employment among Nigerian students.

Showing the extent of influence the media has on the people, she pointed that the role of the media in shaping public perceptions and opinions has long been the subject of much speculation and debate, stating that it has also been flogged thoroughly in communication and management literature.

'The press can sell that good guys that can take the gold medal, that practicing sound business ethics can grow a business.  But media outlets and their corporate owners need to hold themselves to the same standards that they expect from the businesses they cover' she noted.

Speaking on the 20th anniversary of the LBS, Dean of Faculty, Dr. Enase Okonedo said the institution which started in 1991 as a small room has now grown to be ranked every year by Financial Times among the global providers of executive education.

Okonedo enumerated the successes achieved thus far, saying the institution has achieved so much as it is the only Nigerian business school to be ranked among the prestigious world ranking.

Recounting LBS achievements, she said 'LBS programmes attract over 3,000 participants from multinational and indigenous companies yearly,  LBS is a school of Pan-African University, a member of the Association of African Business Schools (AABS), the Global Business School Network (GBSN), the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRIME)' among others.

Speaking on the future outlook of the school, she disclosed plans by the school to introduce the 'Developing future leaders for Africa' initiative, as well as make business management education relevant to Africans and Nigerians especially.

she said, 'In line with our mission statement, we strive to be a world-class business school which will have significant impact on the practice of management.'