Government will back young entrepreneurs – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has assured young Ghanaian entrepreneurs that his administration will give full backing to the new and developing entrepreneurship trends in the country.

Speaking during the turn of the Ministry of Business Development’s Presidential Pitch for Start-ups event, held at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel under the theme, “Creating an Entrepreneurial Climate to Support Young Businesses”, President Akufo-Addo said organisations such as Google and Facebook both of which are headquartered in the Untied States of America, begun as simple ideas that have grown into global giants. The President added that Ghana has not done so well in incubating ideas and developing same into global entities. To that end, government is fully persuaded about giving new start-ups all the needed support to ensure the development and growth of the ideas of young entrepreneurs in the country.

Presidential Pitch for Start-ups

The Presidential Pitch seeks to unearth young entrepreneurs across the ten regions of the country to showcase their innovative business ideas to the President to get financial assistance to implement such ideas. The project is in line with the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision of assisting young entrepreneurs to incubate their business ideas and improve livelihoods.

A total of ten young Ghanaians participated in the contest with projects ranging from technology, agriculture, construction, energy and agro-processing. The contestants comprising young entrepreneurs drawn from all ten regions include Nana Newman, agriculture project; Aicon Andoh, technology; Joelle Eyeson, construction; Kwasi Adai Munumkum Okyere, agri-business, Emi-Beth Quatson, agri-business. The rest are Abdulsalam Mohammed, health/technology; Ahmed Tijani Toyibu, health; Zeenatu Suglo Adams, agro-processing; Vanessa Aisha Limann, agro-processing and Richmond Zissu Nutsuglo, energy.

Judges for the Pitch

The pitch had three judges comprising Ebenezer Ago Simpson, Manager of the Skills Development Fund; Dzigbordi Dosoo, personal impact, professional growth and influence expert and Dr. Daniel Mckorley, Executive Chairman and CEO of McDan Group of Companies.

Awards

All ten contestants received various cash amounts and recognition for their efforts. The 10th contestant in the ranking, Kwasi Adai Mununkum Okyere received Ghc 30,000.00. The 9th, Aicon Andah received Ghc 30,000.00. The 8th, Zeenatu Soglo Adams; 7th, Nana Newman; 6th, Emi Berg Quatson; 5th, Joel Eyeson and 4th, Richmond Nutsuglo also received Ghc 30,000.00

The 3rd contestant, Ahmed Tijani received a cash prize of Ghc 40,000.00. The first runner up, Abdusalam Mohammed, received Ghc 45,000.00. The overall best,19-year old Vanessa Aisha Limann, received Ghc 50,000gh and an additional Ghc 25,000.00 personal donation from the President.