The government has earmarked a total amount of GH¢2.5million for this year’s edition of the Presidential Pitch for the top 25 contestants of the competition, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovative Programme (NEIP), Madam Abigail Swad Laryea, has disclosed.
The Presidential Pitch is a special entrepreneurship initiative designed and organised by the Ministry of Business Development in conjunction with the National Entrepreneurship & Innovation Programme (NEIP).
The purpose of this initiative is to offer young Ghanaian entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40 the opportunity to pitch their business ideas in the hope of obtaining funding to operationalise and scale their businesses.
At the end of the individual pitches, a specified number of finalists will be selected to receive varying amounts of funding grants for their businesses.
A panel of judges get to decide who obtains funding. These judges are all seasoned and accomplished entrepreneurs in their own right.
Madam Swad Laryea made the revelation at the launch of the 4th edition of the competition in Accra on Friday.
She said participants must present businesses that have the potential to generate employment opportunities, grow and expand beyond small-scale operation, demonstrating scalability and long-term viability.
“This year’s edition of the presidential pitch will be focusing more on agriculture, fintech technology, manufacturing and processing, tourism and creative arts.”
“We will be narrowing down all applications to a top 25 instead of the usual top 20. To apply please visit our website www.neip.gov.gh,” she added.
She indicated that all businesses submitted by applicants must be their original works and should not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others.
According to her, the NEIP had been a key catalyst in realising the vision of building inclusive, integrated, and innovative ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the country.
She indicated that the government had ensured that policies and initiatives that catered for the needs of entrepreneurs all over the country had been put in place, “one of which is the NEIP whose primary objective is to provide training, business development services, capacity building, mentoring, funding and access to market linkages to all our beneficiaries to enable them grow and become successful.”
She described NEIP as an entity that had become a solution to the national youth unemployment menace and a special purpose vehicle designed by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Madam Swad Laryea said “As a purpose vehicle for job creation, our response to help curb youth unemployment lies in initiatives like the presidential pitch. It is a deliberate systematic and integrated policy initiative by NEIP to boost entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country.”
“The business competition, a revolution in the history of Ghana also serves as an incubation platform for existing businesses and capital funding from government.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
