Five (5) teams of student entrepreneurs from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, have qualified to compete against other student entrepreneurs from the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and the University of Ghana (UG) at the national level. The Regional Demo Pitch Competition held on Friday, 21st July 2023 at the Kumasi Business Incubator was under the auspices of the Connecting Ghana Project Innovation for African Universities (IAU), in collaboration with the Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID), University of Ghana, Impact Hub Accra and Imperial College London.
During the opening session, Dr. Abena Achiaa Boakye, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Food Science and Technology, KNUST mentioned that the primary objective of the competition is to foster startup ideas and cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset among students, focusing on innovative business ideas in crucial sectors such as Health, Agriculture, Food, Education, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Extension, and Technology. She disclosed that the Regional Demo received an overwhelming response, with over One Hundred and Thirty (130) applications and Twenty (20) teams were shortlisted for the competition. The shortlisted teams underwent rigorous training and skills acquisition to prepare them for the regional and national competitions.
Professor James Osei Mensah, one of the judges from the Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, KNUST, encouraged the participants to be confident and bold in articulating their business ideas. He acknowledged the great potential of the various teams and admonished them to effectively present their concepts, as they were the only ones who could best convey their vision. Professor Osei Mensah also reassured the participants that winning the competition was not the only measure of success; rather, perseverance and belief in their ideas would pave the way for future successes.
Sharing her personal journey as an entrepreneur, Ms. Naomi Kokuro, Founder and Chief Shopper at KayaApp Grocery and a Certified Digital Marketing Associate and Trainer, highlighted the significance of participating in various pitch competitions, recounting both her failures and victories. She advised the students to construct compelling arguments to defend their ideas persuasively in order to convince the judges why their ideas deserved recognition and support.
Mrs. Eunice Adu Boahen, the Intellectual Property Rights Administrator at KNUST, guided the students on safeguarding their ideas to prevent potential theft. She admonished the students to visit the Office of Grant and Research (OGR) to assist them in nurturing their ideas to ensure their intellectual property remained protected.
At the end of the competition, five (5) teams out of the Twenty (20) were selected to compete at the national level. The Teams include McHan Organics, Smart Farm, Ricelens, Wobil Technologies Ltd. and Eudio Mobile Application. Certificates of participation were awarded to all participating teams.
Innovation for African Universities is a learning and collaboration platform that brings together Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in the United Kingdom (UK) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to engage, interact, and learn from one another with the aim of developing mutually beneficial partnerships that strengthen the capacity and capability of Higher Education (HE) systems in both locations. The project is designed to support the development of Africa-UK HE Partnerships to build institutional capacity for HE engagement in entrepreneurship ecosystems in selected African cities.
In a related development, McHan Organics and Smart Farm, two startup teams from KNUST, following their impressive performance and qualification at the regional level, have emerged winners at the just-ended National Demo Pitching Competition of the Connecting Ghana Project Innovation for African Universities (IAU). The two teams showcased their innovative business ideas at the highly competitive national competition, to win the first and second places, respectively.
The Competition, held in Accra, saw a fierce contest between student entrepreneurs from KNUST, the University of Cape Coast (UCC), and the University of Ghana (UG).
