President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has challenged winners of the second edition of the Presidential Pitch to be instruments of job creation in their entrepreneurial endeavours.
He emphasised that at the heart of government’s agenda to groom young entrepreneurs through such awards is to create avenues for people to grow businesses that would not only compete favourably on the world stage but also create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.
President Nana Addo made the call when he presented a cheque of GHC100,000 to the overall winners of the award at the Jubilee House in Accra on Tuesday.
The amount consists of GHC40,000 personal donation by the President and GHC60,000 from the Ministry of Business Development.
The runners-up received an amount of GH¢40,000 GH¢35,000, and GH¢25,000 respectively.
President Akufo-Addo commended the 10 young entrepreneurs for their determination, sense of enterprise, ingenuity of innovation exhibited in their participation in the project.
He challenged them to develop and enhance their entrepreneur skills in order to compete favourably with global businesses, saying that was the surest way that Ghana’s manifest destiny and the capacity of the Ghanaian to construct a new, prosperous Ghanaian civilisation that reflected the values and culture, which had defined the Ghanaian people through the ages, could be realised.
The Presidential Pitch, a business idea competition module which aims to expand the entrepreneurial climate to enable Ghanaian youth come up with creative ideas that will help them develop into global giants, was recently held by the Ministry of Business Development in Accra.
The Presidential Pitch is a project designed and organised by the Ministry of Business Development to offer young Ghanaian entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 the opportunity to market their business ideas and get financial assistance to implement those ideas.
The programme also forms part of government’s efforts to implement concerted policies and programmes that will create and expand the frontiers of ecosystem entrepreneurship skills among Ghanaian youth.
Minister for Business Development, Dr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal told the President that winners of the maiden Presidential Pitch last year have so far created some 207 jobs.
The President, who was impressed at the news, said the new recipients of the award can only improve on their enterprises to create more jobs.
“I am expecting that this year round you will do even better”, he said.
The recipients of the award thanked the President for the initiative, and assured that they would utilise the funds to create more jobs and to contribute to the development of the country.
Two female students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) – Matilda Asantewaa Sampong and Emilee Otoo Quayson, emerged the winner of season II of the Presidential Pitch.
The two process sanitary pads using banana and plantain fibre. They beat competition from nine others who presented their business ideas for the award.
Source: The Finder
