Ghana Conference on Health & Education in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA -- The Ghana UPenn Network Initiative (GUNI)held its Ghana Conference on Health/Education at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Saturday April 3rd. The event featured H. Kwasi Prempeh, Associate Professor of Law, SETON HALL LAW SCHOOL as the Keynote Speaker.

Due to some circumstances beyond their control; Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh and Yaw Owusu, Founder & CEO of Ghana Cyber Group were not able to attend the conference but speeches were made on their behalf by the presiding two M.Cs.

There was a second keynote speech made by Linda Ford of Ghana New Ventures Competition, Inc. and Owusu Akoto, Founder, Ghana-UPenn Network Initiative also made a brief address. The event ended with a party and networking.

BIOs

i)Victor Mallet:

Victor received his B.Sc in Chemical Engineering from MIT in June 2002. During his years at MIT, Victor was one of the principal organizers of the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. He has been involved in starting business plan competitions in Sevilla (Spain), Melbourne (Australia), Cape Town (South Africa) and was awarded the John C. Head III Scholarship by the MIT Entrepreneurship Center for his outstanding contribution to entrepreneurship education at MIT. While at MIT, he and a four other Ghanaian students founded the Ghana New Ventures Competition, which has become Ghana's leading business plan competition and a leader in the promotion of new ventures in Ghana. Victor worked with the Boston Consulting Group in Boston and is now here in Philadelphia working at the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Center based at The Enterprise Center.

ii) H. Kwasi Prempeh http://law.shu.edu/faculty/fulltime_faculty/prempeh/prempeh.html

iii) Jill Ford

Chief Executive Officer of The Ghana New Ventures Competition, Inc. an international non-profit NGO that stregthens Ghana from within by connecting Ghana's entrepreneurs with the training, global networks, and financial resources needed for business success.

Blending her work in Business Strategy for RealNetworks and her interest in Ghana, Jill E. Ford began a significant path toward social entrepreneurship that led her to the GNVC. Before starting her MBA program in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Jill worked with Trilogy Software as a Software Consultant and Technical Architect. Integrating numerous technologies, she built Compensation Management Systems for Fortune 500 Corporations in the Financial Services, Telecommunications, and Technology Industries. Jill's skill for managing customer relationships and quickly identifying resolution paths earned her Trilogy's most coveted Star Award in 2000. Jill holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Harvard University.

iv)Owusu Akoto

Studying International relations and minors in African Studies, Anthropology and World History Minor, Owusu founded the Ghana UPenn Network Initiative (GUNI) in February 2003 with the support of various departments and centers at the University of Pennsylvania where he is an completing his final year. GUNI seeks to raise support for health and education projects back home in Ghana realizing that these sectors are fundamental to the development of the country. GUNI operates under the aegis of the Ghana Cyber Group, from which its creation was inspired and GUNI organizes the annual Ghana Conference on Education/Health.