Ten entrepreneurs get help

Accra, Sept. 25, GNA 96 Mr Joseph Tackie, an Agriculturalist, was on Thursday adjudged the best of the 10 finalists, who competed in a programme dubbed 93Believe, Begin, Become 2006=94 aimed at unearthing entrepreneurs.

Mr Tackie, who is also the Managing Director of Meaty Foods Limited, in his business plan presented to the organizers of the competition, proposed to expand his meat processing business in the Greater Accra Region.

=93I am humbled by this award. At a point I did not know what to do but the good book guided me with Proverbs 15 versus 23,=94 he said, when he received his prize, which included a laptop from TechnoServe, a non-governmental organization that supports entrepreneurship. Mr Tackie and nine others also received 15,000 dollars to help them in their business development services.

Narrating the story surrounding his business, he said he started production with 147,000 cedis and as the company was progressing he had a problem which led to its total collapse. Mr Tackie said he started again and was at a point torn between giving up and going for a loan. He, however, went for the latter and gradually started picking up again.

Believe, Begin, Become 2006 competition organized by TechnoServe in collaboration with Google.org and sponsorship from Stanbic Bank Limited had 20 finalists in a rigorous training programme that included more than 75 hours of course work, industry conferences and time with business professionals in order to compete for seed capital and technical assistance awards.

The other nine winners are Rita Asamoah, a Retailer; Agnes Frimpong, a Marketer; Isaac Bohulu, a Pharmacist; Maxwell Hammond and Paul Tetteh, both farmers.

The rest are Joyce Opon and Daniel Tamatey, both Entrepreneurs; Nicholas Vordzogbe, a Research Officer and Prince Yakubu, a National Service Personnel.

Mr Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org noted that such entrepreneurial programmes would help Ghanaians to become more optimistic about the future of the country.

Mr Andani Alhassan, Managing Director of Stanbic Bank, reiterated that the programme, which was aimed at unearthing raw talents, would also contribute to the foundation of the economy in the future. He urged SMEs to move from self sufficient businesses to employment generating companies.

Mr Alhassan pledged his organization's continual support for the programme in Ghana and beyond.

Mr Nick Railson-Brown, TechnoServe Country Director, commended the private sector for the support they had given to the programme. He said this implied that Ghana was ready to bring promising entrepreneurs into the formal economy, knowing that the private sector's contribution was important to the country's economic growth.

=93Increasing this support in future years will soon allow Believe, Begin, Become to be a self sustaining programme funded by Ghana for Ghana's growth,=94 he said.