Coalition for Positive Impact (CPI), a youth-led not-for-profit organization, has offered capital support worth about GH¢40,000 to eight young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana to scale up their businesses.
The support formed part of the CPI's annual Igniting Dreams program which brings together young people and business leaders for learning and sharing in business development and also supports young entrepreneurs with start-up capital.
This year's Igniting Dreams program, the sixth edition of the program, presented an impactful three-day summit with reveting keynote speeches, panel discussions, co-creation and networking sessions as well pitch contests and an inspiring trip to one of Ghana's real estate sensations, Royal Cosy Hills in the Upper West Region.
The activities of the summit culminated in the awarding of eight outstanding young entrepreneurs with cash prizes to accelerate their businesses.
According to the Founder and President of the CPI, Mr Maazu Bayuoni, the processes leading to the awarding of the young entrepreneurs began a few months earlier where ten young entrepreneurs, called Igniting Dreams finalists, were selected through competitive processes from amongst over 130 applicants who had applied to be considered for the program.
He said the Igniting Dreams finalists were taken through an intensive two-month and one-week physical boot camp training on business development to firm up their business ideas and models ahead of the pitch contest.
He indicated that, out of the ten finalists, eight of them made it to the summit and pitch contest and were awarded accordingly.
At the end of the pitching contest, Champions’ Center for Academics, Reading and Excellence (C-CARE) from the Northern Region emerged as the ultimate winner and took home the Gold Prize worth GH¢12,000.
C-CARE is a special education provider that specialises in helping students with specific academic challenges such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia.
The Silver and Bronze prizes worth of GH¢9,000 and GH¢7,000 went to Gbentek Solutions from the Upper West Region and Diva Farms in the Northern Region respectively.
While Gbentek is a digital agency that assists businesses in streamlining their operations through the provision of digital services, Diva Farms is into sustainable agriculture and offers high-quality organic vegetables to consumers.
Locker Room Sports from Northern Region, which is a sportswear manufacturer retail and manufacturing company with a vision of becoming a giant producer and distributor of sportswear in Africa, came fourth winning a sum of GH¢5,000.
Zebilla Farms from the Upper East Region, which is into the rearing of guinea fowls for meat production and eggs, placed fifth worth GH¢1,000 and also won the People's Choice Prize worth GH¢1,500, totalling GH¢2,500.
The sixth, seventh and eighth places went to Ummy Farms, FabricPlast, both from the Northern Region, and DeNaturals Haircare Products from the Upper West Region and each went home with an amount of GH¢1,000.
Mr. Amankwah Benjamin, the Founder of C-CARE and Gold Prize winner, expressed profound gratitude to CPI for finding his business worthy of the support.
He attributed his triumph to hard work and determination much as he thanked God for being his helper.
"It has been God from day one, and it's God today and it'll continue to be God. I give all the glory to God for all that has happened today.
"God really rewards hard work. It's a dream that I've carried over the past eight years and because of this dream, I've slept in classrooms and a whole lot of things to bring it a reality," he said.
The theme for this year's three-day Igniting Dreams Summit was "Developing Northern Ghana through Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership."
The summit was supported by the Sangu Delle Foundation, Noni Hub, Rabito Clinic, DLight Space, Girls Education Initiative Ghana, Express Pay, mNotify, and Steward Reigns Photography.