GNVC Completes First Phase of Business Plan

Ghana New Ventures Competition (GNVC) Successfully Completes First Phase of 3rd National GNVC Business Plan Competition and Prepares for Final Awards Ceremony

Accra, Ghana – Monday, 29 March, 2004 – Ghana New Ventures Competition (GNVC) has successfully completed the Training, Mentorship, and Networking components of the 3rd National GNVC Business Plan Competition on Saturday, 27 March, 2004. Over the past four weeks, more than 80 aspiring entrepreneurs have participated in the programme that has consisted of intensive business skills training workshops, a guest speaker series, panel discussions, mentorship, and networking opportunities. In addition, numerous entrepreneurs have accessed and benefited from the free training content and resources available online through GNVC’s Distance Learning Centre (www.ghananewventures.com): the First Entrepreneurship Web Portal in Ghana.

With the conclusion of the training, mentorship, and networking programme, entrepreneurs will be submitting business plans to the GNVC Business Plan Competition by the deadline of 1 April, 2004. Two rounds of judging will follow, involving an international panel of judges, after which three winning teams will be selected and announced. These teams will be formally recognized and awarded at the Final Awards Ceremony for this year’s business plan competition on Sunday, 2 May, 2004, from 12 PM to 3 PM at BusyInternet. Honorable Kwamena Bartels (Ministry for Private Sector Development), Ken Ofori-Atta (Databank Financial Services), and Patrick Awuah, Jr. (Ashesi University) will be present as Chairman, Keynote Speaker, and Guest Speaker, respectively.

GNVC is an international not-for-profit organisation incorporated in Ghana and the US. The organisation was founded by a group of Ghanaian students in the USA who were involved with the leadership of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) $50,000 Entrepreneurship Competition in Boston, MA. Since its inception, GNVC has aimed to lay the networking and educational infrastructure necessary for entrepreneurs to pursue their goals, learning the skills to start businesses that will benefit Ghana’s people and economy.

GNVC meets these objectives by organising annual business plan competitions centered on training aspiring entrepreneurs to produce effective business plans, empowering them through mentors and role models in the Ghanaian business community, and enabling them to establish their own companies. GNVC also provides the most promising teams of entrepreneurs with start-up grants totaling thousands of dollars.

In over two years of operations, GNVC has catalyzed the formation of three new ventures in Ghana – Strategic Accounting Solutions (SAS), Afroduct, and Peco Training Center – each of which received $1,000 in start-up grants. In addition, GNVC has trained hundreds entrepreneurs in how to write effective business plans, involved over 100 of Ghana’s most prominent business leaders, and secured the patronage of the Ministry for Private Sector Development, the Ministry of Economic Planning, and the Ministry of Manpower Development & Employment.

For information: http://www.gnvc.org

Or contact: cohen@gnvc.org

Phone: 0244-975-352 or 021-258-795