Serwaa Kesse Girls SHS wins National Business Pitch contest

Students from Serwaa Kesse Girls’ Senior High School (SHS) in Duayaw Nkwanta in the Ahafo Region have emerged winners of this year’s National Business Pitch Competition (NBPC).

The NBPC is a platform dedicated to grow entrepreneurial ideas among the youth through innovative ideas and use of technology.

Held in Accra, the Serwaa Kesse Girls’ SHS beat 14 other schools in the highly competitive contest and won GH₵10,000 as start-up money.
Northern Business School and Accra Academy came second and third, respectively.

The Competition

The competition brought together investors, technology gurus, representatives of banks, telecommunications, non-governmental agencies and the Ministry of Education represented by its deputy, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour.

Themed: “Fueling Change Makers”, the students presented solutions to challenges facing agriculture, solar energy, sanitation and hygiene.

The solutions were in the form of mobile applications, appliances, products and services.

Winning team

The ladies from Serwaa Kesse Girls’ SHS pitched on a product they had manufactured called Seksolin.

Seksolin is a device that would convert solar energy into electrical energy to power electrical appliances and also be used for clean cooking.

The confidence, innovation, and business acumen of the team set them apart from the other competitors.

The Northern Business School took home the Academic City Excellence in Teamwork Award and the Aburi Girls SHS picked the Tomorrow Foundation Award (Tech – Innovation Award) while PRESEC, Legon, also took home the Project Management Institute Educational Fund Award (Project Management Award).

Additionally, the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation Award (Entrepreneurial Spirit Award) went to Archbishop Porter’s Girls; Northern Business School won the Primetime Limited Award (Excellence in Marketing Award) and Peter Gbedemah won the Public Choice Award.

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Rev. Fordjour urged schools to take advantage of such competitions, stressing that he was amazed at the level of knowledge the competing students had exhibited.

“Initially, we all thought money was the only thing needed to change the world, but what I have seen today clearly shows that ideas are also vital. I am really impressed,“ he said.

The Executive Director of JA Ghana, organisers of the competition, Abeiku Greene, expressed his gratitude to all the participants.

Writer’s email: delali.sika@graphic.com.gh