25 To receive this year’s Presidential Pitch
Twenty-five young Ghanaian entrepreneurs are to receive an amount of GH¢2.5 million as prize money for this year’s Presidential pitch.
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This is the fourth edition since the launch of the initiative as a deliberate, systematic and integrated policy initiative by the government to boost the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country.
Powered by the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), the Presidential Pitch had since the year 2018 dealt with about 400 applications from various sectors, out of which the 60 persons supported have created 450 direct jobs.
These beneficiaries, among other young entrepreneurs, include the famous Pizza Man Chicken Man, Kawa Moka Coffee Company and NAYA Success Axis, a poultry farm, all of which were said to be doing very well.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NEIP, Abigail Swad Laryea, at the launch of this year’s Presidential Pitch in Accra last Friday announced that the government had earmarked an amount of GH¢ 2.5 million for this year’s top 25 applicants.
She said the policy seeks to turn creative businesses owned by the youth of the country into global business giants with the support of the government.
Job creators
“Our country is facing enormous challenges and there is the need to encourage our youth to be job creators and not job seekers,” Ms Laryea said.
The Presidential pitch, she explained, had become one of the solutions to the national unemployment menace and a special-purpose vehicle provided to create jobs.
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Detailing the rules and regulations governing this year’s edition, Ms Laryea said the methodology for the competition had been changed to sectorial picking instead of general picking.
In that regard, she mentioned that agriculture, fintech and technology, manufacturing, tourism and creative arts and TVET were the sectors, adding that “there was also space for any other viable economic area”.
“In the past, it was 1,000 applications were reviewed.
However, it has been narrowed down to 100 and the top 20 were invited to Accra to pitch before the judges.
This year, with the five categories, we are going to have each applicant apply, grouped into categories, narrowed down to the top 25 and each sector will have five finalists,” she explained.
Once that is done, she said, the top 25 would pitch.
After that, the top three from each of the categories would be awarded and the number will be narrowed down to the top 15.
Ms Laryea said the top 15 would then enter the competition by pitching for a place in the top three.
She said an applicant stands to benefit from GH¢100, 000 from the top three, as well as an extra GH¢100, 000 from the main competition.
She, therefore, encouraged all qualified youth entrepreneurs to participate.
Ms Laryea said the NEIP had been a catalyst in realising the vision of building an integrated, innovative and conducive ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the country, pointing out that the primary objective of the NEIP was to provide training, basic development services, capacity building, funding and access to the market.
Eligibility
Touching on the expectations of NEIP from the applicants, the Deputy NEIP CEO said participants could start applying from last Friday till July 14, 2023.
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She added that participants must be Ghanaians aged between 18 years and 40 years at the time of application.
She said applicants must present businesses that were innovative, feasible, scalable, enjoyable and impactful while ideas submitted must also be the original work of the participants.
She indicated that the work presented should not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others.
The CEO of Kawa Moka Coffee Company, and a beneficiary, Elizabeth Quantson, who shared her experiences after receiving support from previous editions of the programme, said it had been impactful and also a good opportunity for young entrepreneurs to start their businesses.
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For her part, the CEO of NAYA Success Axis, Yaa Aduba Asare, who was also a beneficiary, said the Presidential Pitch helped her to make her business concept realistic.
She said she worked to grow her business to the extent that she was adjudged the best female farmer during the 2020 Farmers’ Day in the Adentan Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.