President Akufo-Addo handing over a cheque to one of the young entrepreneurs
President Akufo-Addo last Friday gave out an amount of GH¢2.5 million to some 30 young entrepreneurs to push their businesses.
This was when he presented awards to winners of the season four edition of the Presidential Pitch meant to provide financial support for young Ghanaian entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 to 40.
Caleb Edem Mantey of Relu Interactives received GH¢150,000 in excess of GH¢50,000 from what the winner of the third edition of the programme received last year.
In addition to that, President Akufo-Addo made a personal donation of GH¢50,000, making a total of GH¢200,000.
He designed an application which is an interactive and immersive application of a petroleum drilling rig simulator that teaches postgraduate and undergraduate engineering students practical operations of a drilling rig.
The second position went to Bismark Etornam Mensah, a young entrepreneur, who uses fish for food seasoning without any additives, also known as ‘momone’ cube.
Other winners received between GH¢70,000 and GH¢130,000 each in grants, and they [just like the overall winner] will also be attached to hubs in their respective regions for continuous monitoring and support.
Ike Agyei Mensah, one of the winners, designed ‘Deaf Can Talk’, which uses mobile phone to translate sign language to audio and vice versa for easy interaction with hearing-impaired persons.
Commitment
Speaking at the awards event held under the theme “Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation: The Role of our Future Unicorns,” at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel Friday, President Akufo-Addo said his administration recognises that youth entrepreneurship is the surest way to deal with the huge unemployment challenge confronting the country.
He, therefore, gave his word that “government will continue to help fashion a supportive environment to enhance entrepreneurship and enterprise development.”
That, he said, was part of reasons the award packages for this year’s competition was increased to reflect the upward increment of the cost of goods and services.
For the very first time, eleventh to thirtieth placed contestants were all given between GH¢30,000 and GH¢50,000.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. John Kuma, who also spoke at the event, said a critical look at recent data shows a steady rise in youth unemployment over the years, particularly among graduates since COVID-19 struck.
He indicated that the “Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) population and housing census data 2021, points out that 1,760,000 persons were unemployed at the end of the third quarter of 2022. 700,000 of this number are graduates.”
He, however, noted that “I can confidently say that throughout the history of this country, no administration has offered the level of technical support and funding to young people for commencing or expanding their business as your administration has provided.”
He, therefore, encouraged Ghanaian youth to always take advantage of government’s entrepreneurship programmes.
On his part, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Entrepreneurship & Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, indicated that under his leadership and direction and support of the President, the NEIP is committed to supporting entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses in order to turn Ghana into an entrepreneurial nation.
“Through the Presidential Pitch, we are highlighting the future of possibilities with the concept of unicorn entrepreneurs. We are envisioning a future, favourably within a decade where successful businesses from pitch could be worth over a billion Ghana cedis, that is we are to localise the term ‘unicorn’,” he said.
For him, “this is our own unique way of creating our own Jack Ma’s, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and multiplying our Osei Kwame Despites, and Jospong’s to name but a few.”
The Finalists
Season four of the Presidential Pitch featured ten (10) contestants. The contestants were Jennifer Kwakwa Sarpong, Bidigreen Ghana Limited; Ike Agyei Mensah, Deafcantalk; Bismark Etornam Mensah, Fetuli Foods; Aphraim Bukari Adombila, Haliah Organics Africa and Kwabena Tuffour, Prosect Feed Limited.
The rest are; Adriana Appiagyei Nsiah Nimo, Reecopiast; Kwaku Ansu Aforo, Recco Solutions; Daniel Amaza Philips, Scibble Works; Georgina Odom, Useful Waste Limited and Caleb Edem Mantey, Relu Interactives.
The Presidential Pitch
The Presidential Pitch is an initiative to provide financial support (grant) to young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 to 40.
The business competition is in line with the President’s vision to assist young entrepreneurs to nurture their business ideas and improve livelihoods.
Applicants are selected to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges out of which 25 are selected for funding. The ideas presented by the applicants must exhibit four characteristics: feasibility, innovativeness, scalability and impact.
To show the level of commitment he has towards youth entrepreneurship, President Akufo-Addo sits through all the business pitches.
NEIP
The National Entrepreneurship & Innovation Programme (NEIP) is a flagship policy initiative of the Government of Ghana. Its primary objective is to provide an integrated national support for start-ups and small businesses.
NEIP primarily focuses on providing business development services; start-up incubators and funding for young businesses to enable them grow and become successful.
The NEIP is therefore set within the context of Ghana’s long-term strategic vision of consolidating its middle-income status, building an industry-driven economy capable of providing decent jobs that are suitable and sustainable for development.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent