Rebecca Donkor
Rebecca Donkor, founder and CEO of Make-Up Ghana, has been appointed as a project judge by the Ministry of Business Development for its Campus Business Pitch (CBP) programme.
The CBP— under the theme ‘Nurturing Tomorrow’s Business Giants Today’— is a programme by the ministry to help student entrepreneurs across various universities in the country.
It is also to stimulate and encourage students to embrace entrepreneurship to be able to create jobs for themselves. It was launched some weeks ago on October 9 at the University of Ghana.
Dr. Mohammed Awal, Minister for Business Development, explained that the programme is a maiden initiative to give students the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to well-established and experienced entrepreneurs to receive funding and capacity building to start their own businesses.
According to him, a GH¢3 million fund has been allocated for this initiative, adding that government, through the Ministry of Business Development, is ready to fully support participants of the CBP from the initial idea stage to implementation of their businesses.
“We want students to give us compelling, innovative and bankable business proposals, because we will fund them. See yourself as global citizens and not just in Ghana. See yourself as part of the 1.2 billion global citizens in Africa,” he stated.
“We are looking at changing the mindset of our students from seeking jobs after university to creating jobs for themselves. This Campus Business Pitch is the first of its kind and will grant these students a great platform to be entrepreneurial and self-independent,” he disclosed.
As a project judge, Rebecca Donkor would be touring to judge at 17 university campuses across Ghana, starting with the University of Cape Coast on November 8, 2019.
Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana and Chairman at the launch ceremony, said the CBP would help young entrepreneurs gain business acumen, learn how to effectively pitch innovative ideas to investors and test their start-ups in the business world.
Women were also encouraged by Deputy Minister of Education, Barbara Asher, to take great advantage of this opportunity to fund their businesses.