Translating knowledge to economic outcomes: Prof Uphie Chinje, other experts inspire Y’de I varsity students, lecturers.

This was the focus of a one-day workshop on entrepreneurship, which held on the university campus in Yaounde Last Thursday.

It was organised by the Nayokan Start-up Centre, in partnership with the Cameroonian Chapter of the Organisation of Women in Science for Developing World, OWSD, amongst other associations.

It was placed under the theme: “From knowledge to Impact: Bridging Academia and Industry in Cameroon”.

Attended mostly by female participants, the entrepreneurship workshop unfolded in two phases; theoretical and practical sessions. 

In the first phase, participating students and lecturers were groomed on the role of research, differences between knowledge acquisition and knowledge application routes, and transformative structured research with commercialised mindset.

The practical sessions dwelled on structured self-assessment of participants’ own research outputs, identification of projects that have potential for industry adoption and mapping pathways for turning prior or current research into spin-offs, consulting solutions and startups. 

According to Prof Uphie Chinje, co-founder of Nayokan Start-up Centre, government has since 2023 changed the law guiding higher education in Cameroon, with focus on entrepreneurship.

Prof Uphie said she was motivated by her understanding of the weaknesses of the university sector, after being in the sector for several years, to approach the OWSD Cameroon Chapter to organised the capacity building session. 

“We should not just get knowledge, but get knowledge to be able to impact the community…I believe the professors are those who have the knowledge and if they are given the skills and the mechanisms of what to do, how to even initiate research, what to do with the research, how to have spin-off, how to start a start-up…,” she told The Guardian Post.

Prof Uphie added: “It's not everybody that will be an entrepreneur but even if you get 10 or 20%, you'll change the economy”.

Change of mindset

Hammering on the need for a shift in paradigm earlier in her presentation, Prof Chinje had said university lecturers should move from ‘publish to be promoted’ syndrome to ‘publish to impact’, research commercialisation and societal impact.

She emphasised the need to prepare graduates not just to take jobs but to create them; not just to produce knowledge but to exploit it and shape the future. 

“To unlock the potential of our graduates, we must equip them with the future-facing skills that match the demands of the 21st century: analytical and computational thinking, digital literacy: entrepreneurial capability cross-disciplinary problem-solving leadership, and communication innovation and design thinking,” she pointed out.

Prof Uphie who is also former Director of Local Materials Promotion Authority, MIPROMALO, equally mentioned that graduates do not become innovative by accident but become innovative when the right systems are created.

“We need a transformative higher education: prioritizes inquiry-based learning, links theory to real-world problems, embeds entrepreneurship into science, leverages digital technologies, combines academic knowledge with 21st Century skills,” she emphasised. 

Going by the renowned varsity don, transformative education ecosystems will empower learners to become agents of change, fostering personal growth, social responsibility and community development.

“Entrepreneurship is not a product”

An innovation architect, Dr Fabrice Abunde, also empowered the participants. Contrary to what many people think entrepreneurship is about creating a product, Dr Abunde stressed that entrepreneurship is rather when a product meets a need in the market.

“Universities still think that entrepreneurship is actually a product. It's not a product. When you do a product, it's just 10% chance that when that product goes to the market, it's going to succeed. 90% of the time, we have seen that it doesn't work,” he explained. 

Dr Abunde then advised that before engaging in entrepreneurship, persons study the market to know what the market needs before falling back into the university research to solve the market need. 

“A solution to solve a market need is not a product alone. It's a list of things that we have to put together. So, this brings us to the new definition of novelty,” he added. 

Enter OWSD Cameroon Chapter President

The President of OWSD Cameroon Chapter, Prof Elvira Hortense Biye, said the workshop was aimed to not only to promote and encourage women and girls in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, but also to recognise their achievements.

“There are many science ladies out there who have done a lot… OWSD helps not only young students but women to obtain funding for different activities and one of them is involved in involving in entrepreneurship,” she said.

Prof Biye clarified that the workshop will help participants to change their ways of thinking and change the paradigm. 

 “This seminar is to help our students, to help us lecturers and especially students not to remain in the thesis but to come out, do things that will help them tomorrow. They should be able to create jobs and not expect jobs to be given to them by the government,” the lecturer of Yaounde I University added.

Participants hailed organisers of the workshop, noting that knowledge gained will go a long way in changing their minds and approach to many issues discussed. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3689 of Friday January 30, 2026