The Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso, has on behalf of the University donated one hundred thousand Ghana Cedis to the winners of the 2019 Presidential Pitch Season II Competition.
A statement issued by the KNUST and copied to the Ghana News Agency said Prof Obiri-Danso, also mentioned that the University would provide an office space, production site, machinery and other required assistance needed for the production of the award winning product, “FLOYABANA PAD”.
Prof Obiri-Danso said this, when the winners of the 2019 Presidential Pitch Season II, Emily Otoo-Quayson and Matilda Asantewaa Sampong, accompanied by the Vice Dean of Students’ Affairs and officials of the ‘Mastercard Foundation Scholars’ Program at KNUST paid a courtesy call on him.
The Vice Chancellor congratulated the winners for their success saying “as a University, we are ready to give all the support needed to champion this course”.
He expressed the hope that the winners would develop the product into a competitive brand for the good of the society.
The Vice Chancellor, also charged other students in KNUST to emulate the hard work, creativity and ingenuity of the award winners so KNUST would continue to be a shining example in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
Ms. Otoo-Quayson, on behalf of her group expressed gratitude to the management of the University for the wonderful gesture.
She said the pressing needs of upcoming entrepreneurs in Ghana and Africa was lack of startup capital adding that the support would be put to good use.
She appealed to other corporate organisation and individuals to support them to develop their product into a global brand.
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 project is in line with the President’s vision to assist young entrepreneurs to nurture their business ideas and improve livelihoods to drive economic growth.
In all, two hundred competitors from Ghana participated in the 2019 competition, however the two came up victorious.
An alumnus of KNUST from the Department of Civil Engineering Ms. Otoo-Quayson and Ms. Sampong, third year Business Administration student who represented KNUST as a team, were awarded GH¢60,000 as investment package and GH¢40,000 personal donation from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
They beat nine other teams who presented their ideas and answered questions before President Akufo-Addo, Ministers of State and Members of the Diplomatic Corps.
The ideas presented exhibited four characteristics: feasibility, innovation, scalability and impact.
