Dorcas Aba Ochil, 3rd runner up for 2021 Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton Africa
ACCESS BANK Ghana has launched the fourth edition of its Womenpreneur Pitch a-ton Africa competition under the theme ‘Empowering Women for Global Impact’.
Unlike previous seasons that opened participation to women entrepreneurs across Africa, this edition will, for the first time, be run in Ghana for women entrepreneurs in the country.
The Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton Africa has been designed to provide female owned businesses, an opportunity to access finance, world-class business trainings as well as mentoring opportunities. The initiative is running concurrently across nine other African countries where Access Bank has presence.
Set to run for five months, the competition begins with a call for applications from 1st September, 2022 and is in partnership with GIZ, Scaleup Africa, Innohub, Oze App and Sheeltech.
Speaking in an interview ahead of the launch, Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana Plc., Olumide Olatunji said Access Bank will continue to advance the cause of women in Ghana through world class programmes that would empower them holistically.
“As part of our vision to become the world’s most respected African Bank, we continue to empower key sectors of our nation’s economy. A sector that contributes over 70% towards Ghana’s GDP is SMEs thus supporting them to continuously impact the nation should be a welcoming news to everyone. Womenpreneur Pitch-a-Ton Africa is about the economic empowerment of women and I am excited about the opportunities we are offering Ghanaian women entrepreneurs,” Olumide explained.
Throwing light on the dynamics of the 2022 edition, Pearl Nkrumah, Executive Director for Retail and Digital Banking, said the Womenpreneur Pitch-a-ton is a great opportunity for women entrepreneurs in the country to be exposed to world class training in entrepreneurship.
She noted that a call for applications has been opened on the Access Bank Ghana website to allow women entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 45 years, who have run their businesses for at least a year, and have full ownership or own at least 50% share of the businesses to apply.
According to Pearl, 300 businesses that meet the criteria will proceed to pitch their business ideas to an independent assessing organisation.
Touching on awards for the competition, Pearl further explained that the top 50 women who are finally selected from the 300, will be enrolled in an International Finance Corporation (IFC) mini-MBA course and receive business coaching.
“Our top ten finalists will receive a share of GHS300,000 in cash prizes and personal accident cover and free website design among others,” she revealed.
A business desk report