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September 2022 Accra, Ghana
The National Business Pitch Competition is Junior Achievement (JA) Ghana’s annual celebration of the achievements of high school entrepreneurs who have taken part in the JA Company Program. This year’s competition was organized under the theme: “Fuelling Change Makers” where students presented innovative business ideas in the areas of Agribusiness, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), Climate Change & Renewable Energy, and Health Technology in a bid to promote and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in their communities.
The competition brought together over 60 students from 15 Senior High Schools across the country: St. Augustines College, Achimota School, Aburi Girls SHS, Bolgatanga SHS, St. Francis Girls SHS, Peki SHS, Northern Business School – Tamale, Accra Academy, Presbyterian Boys SHS – Legon, Tarkwa SHS, Archbishop Porter Girls SHS, Efutu SHS, Ghana SHS – Koforidua, Serwaa Kesse SHS, Adukrom Presbyterian SHS, and Keta SHS. These student entrepreneurs competed to stand a chance to win a host of amazing prizes including a trip to Nigeria in December to represent Ghana at the JA Africa COY Competition in December.
After a series of business pitches, and boardroom interviews to look for companies that demonstrated leadership, innovation, problem-solving, teamwork, and business acumen, Serwaa Kesse Girls Senior High School from Duayaw Nkwanta in the Ahafo Region was selected as the overall winner of the competition, taking home the title of the Company of The Year as well as a GHS10,000 cash prize. Their company, Seksolin built a product to convert solar energy into electrical energy to be used for clean cooking and powering electrical appliances.
Being one of the Headline sponsors for the competition, Tomorrow Foundation represented by Nadia Nana Yaa Owusu, a Ghanaian Youth Advocate, in a speech highlighted how the foundation is investing in the lives of young Africans and tackling some of Africa’s pressing issues using technology. She also presented “The Tomorrow Foundation Future Tech/Innovation Award” to Aburi Girls High School - this award was given to the company that best illustrated new, original, or groundbreaking ideas and innovation. Aburi Girls High School’s company Cosmotech seeks to use technology to provide realistic solutions to the agricultural industry. A major project by the company is AniPlat - a technology that helps farmers and land users to check the pH of the soil they use and to monitor crops with drones.
In attendance to the award ceremony also were government officials including the Deputy Minister of Education- Hon. Rev John Ntim Fordjour, the Deputy CEO of the National Youth Authority - Hon. Akosua Manu, Senior business executives, JA Ghana Board members and entrepreneurship ecosystem actors, and other distinguished guests.
See the full list of the winners from the 2022 National Business Pitch Competition here
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