For the past 10 years, Ghana has been part of more than 100 countries which celebrate the Global Entrepreneurship Week. It is a week which highlights entrepreneurship and the benefit it brings to helping solve national issues. For most Ghanaian technophiles, the week is highlighted by Startup Weekend, which crowns the week on its last day.
This year, the week opened with a statement from the President, commending the efforts of entrepreneurs and reiterating the purpose of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan to foster an enabling environment for startups by providing funding and advisory services to both old and young startups. The year’s theme is “It’s possible, just do it!”
The highlight of Monday’s events was a townhall on the art of entrepreneurship which was hosted at the Amegashie Hall of the University of Ghana. Seeing a little over 400 students, the event brought the Vice Chancellor of UG, The Minister of Business Development and the CEO of the NEIP, sharing insights of entrepreneurship in Ghana. Most exciting of all was a panel by Mr. Ken Thompson, CEO Dalex Finance, Mr. Godfred Obeng Boateng, CEO, A1 Bread, where they dissected the art of entrepreneurship, hiring, forming teams, and raising funds.
Also at the event, the Vice Chancellor of UG launched the Vice Chancellor Entrepreneurship Prize for UG graduates to apply to receive funding for their startup ideas.
Tuesday, which marked Media for Entrepreneurship Day, was meant to highlight entrepreneurs and their works on all media platforms, to help Ghanaians appreciate the role of entrepreneurs in building our nation.
On Wednesday, there will be a forum on Women Ecnomonic Policy Inclusion at the British Council, from 6pm to 8pm. This will dwell on how women-led entrepreneurship can drive economic growth and emancipation, in accessing finance, agriculture, fintech, as well as other industries.
Thursday’s event will put the spotlight on social enterprises, on the theme “Teching Social Enterprises In a Digital Age”, with several sessions, running all thorough the day, with the Social Enterprise Ghana convening later in the day, all at the British Council, Accra premises.
The week rounds up with Startup Weekend which runs from Friday 17th November to 19 which brings designers, developers business people and entrepreneur enthusiasts to form teams, and hack on products, to build a startup in 54 hours! Startup Weekends in Ghana have birthed some of Ghana’s most influential tech startup founders including the Dropifi team, William Edem Senyo of Impact Hub Accra, Gbenga Edisson of AgriPro, and a host of others.
As a partner to the week celebrations, gharage invites you to be a part of the week’s celebrations. Pass by the British Council for any of the events, and join in Startup Weekend over the weekend, to validate your business ideas, and meet some awesome people!
Join the conversations online with #GEW2017, #GEWGH2017, and #EntrepreneurialAfrica.
