Delta Airlines, in partnership with Junior Achievement (JA) Africa and Academic City’s Technology and Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC), has held an Innovation Camp for 60 university students.
The one-day business simulation workshop carried out at the MakeLab at Academic City in Accra aims to encourage not only creativity and critical thinking in the participants, but also to instil in them teamwork and problem solving skills – the ability to put forward solutions to real-life business situations.
Working collaboratively in teams of six, the students were tasked with developing solutions to real business challenges facing Delta Airlines globally – following a workshop on innovation and design-thinking, utilising some real-life case studies led by a resource person from the Technology and Innovation Centre at Academic City, Isaac Aboah.
After pitching their ideas to a panel of judges who assessed them in accordance with the evaluation criteria, based on their performances, Team 4 emerged as the one with the best idea followed by Teams 5 and 2 respectively.
Eloina Baddoo, Delta Airlines’ Sales Manager for Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia, presenting the winning teams with medals as well as other gift packages cautioned them to be magnanimous in victory, keep in touch and form a strong bond beyond the camp’s networks. She added that those who did not win are winners in their own right.
She assured of the Airlines’ unwavering commitment to investing in the next generation of leaders, expressing hope that their personal and professional development will be significantly impacted throughout its [Delta] innovation camp sessions.
“Delta recently marked its 16th anniversary in Ghana, demonstrating its continuous commitment to the country. We are happy this all-important event is happening here in Ghana today,” Ms. Baddoo added.
She urged students participating in the workshop to consider it as an opportunity to engage with stakeholders and gain valuable insights into the world of innovation and business, adding that it is also a coaching and mentoring platform for them.
Ms. Baddoo furthermore expressed her gratitude to JA Africa for partnering with the Delta Air Lines for this year’s Innovation Camp after a 3-year break, stating that: “Our association with Junior Achievement goes beyond Africa. In fact, we are a partner of the organisation in 31 countries on four continents as part of our company’s commitment to supporting education around the world – teaching students about financial literacy, work-readiness and entrepreneurship”.
For his part, Abeiku Greene, Executive Director-JA Ghana, while urging the participants to embody the spirit of entrepreneurship also charged them to embrace the power of innovation, thus challenging the status quo.
“Innovation is the lifeline of success and progress that we are seeing. Whether you aspire to own your own business or work in an established organisation, having an entrepreneurial mindset is going to help you be more innovative and successful,” he elaborated.
Delta has been flying to Africa longer than any other US airline, and currently offers non-stop service from four African countries – Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa – to the United States.
JA Africa has a presence in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and collectively reaches more than 300,000 young people and more than 3000 schools every year.
