Dr George Agyekum Donkor, President/Chairman, Board of Directors, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, has urged graduates of the Nobel International Business University, Ghana (NiBS University) to champion innovations that solve Africa’s most urgent problems.
He noted that Africa’s rise would not come by accident; and that it would be engineered by man-driven, impact-oriented leaders like the fresh graduates.
Dr Donkor, who doubles as the Chancellor of NiBS University, gave the advice on Saturday at the 2025 Congregation of the university in Accra, during which 30 Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and 25 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students graduated.
He said NiBS University fosters a learning environment where critical thinking, adaptability, and creativity were not only encouraged, but they were also expected.
He said beyond the lecture room, the NiBS University actively builds global academic and professional partnerships, giving students access to internationally accredited programmes.
He added that they remain deeply rooted in the African Development Agenda and committed to providing home-grown solutions to continental challenges.

Dr Donkor their global student body represents the various African countries and bodies of an African mission that was more than education.
“It is the cultivation of a mindset that sees Africa not just as a place of potential, but as a continent of imminent transformation,” he said.
The Chancellor of the NiBS University congratulated the graduating class of 2025, saying: “You have preserved true intellectual rigor, sleepless nights, demanding projects, and a rapidly changing global landscape.
“And today, you stand triumphant ready to take your place in shaping the world. But remember this, NiBS did not simply prepare you for Africa, it prepared you for a purpose.”
He said NiBS PhD degree training programme was supposed to make the graduates more analytical to shape policy.
He said the graduates were now custodians of the values NiBS University holds dear, such as integrity and leadership, excellence in service, ambition grounded in African transformation and the courage to challenge the status quo.
They were also now being guided into the world marked by volatility, economic uncertainty, technological shift, and global realignment, yet these challenges were also opportunities for those prepared to think broadly and lead responsibly.
Dr Donkor urged the graduates to appeal the research training they had acquired at NiBS University in reforming institutions and business policy and to grow businesses that create jobs, not just profits.
He also counseled them to promote policies that protect the vulnerable and to commit to lifelong learners in their efforts to help build society.
“We are rewriting the narrative of higher education in Africa. As we look to the future, NiBS remains resolute in its vision to offer flexible, forward-thinking, and globally relevant programmes,” he said.
He added, “Through executive education, research, enterprise development, we will continue to cultivate a new generation of professionals and entrepreneurs who are solution-oriented and socially responsible.”

He charged the graduating students to go forward in life and to lead with insight, discipline and vision.
Professor Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, Founder/President, NiBS University, said Africa needs executives with advanced cognitive leadership skills to discover the limitations of current management practices, develop deep insights into what works and what does not work, and to conduct rigorous discovery for new knowledge and next practices suitable for the African context.
Dr David Ofosu Dorte, Founder and Senior Partner of AB & David Africa, a pan-African business firm with offices in Ghana and Zambia, who delivered the keynote address, said the problems that every society faces today ware problems which were likely created yesterday.
“So, whenever anybody has a chance to solve problems, the key approach to take is to ensure that you are not only solving today’s problems but making the solutions future-fit. Because at times, the solutions you provide today create the problems of tomorrow.”
He urged the graduants not to see the future as only tomorrow; declaring that the future is a continuous movement from present to present.
“So, anytime we are solving problems, we should look at the fact that we need to start providing solutions as much as possible, immediately, so to speak. We don’t have to wait for long before we start initiating solutions,” Dr Dorte said.