HOPin Academy, a Tamale-based social organisation, is set to support some 50 entrepreneurs with seed funding of GH¢2,000 each in a bid to enhance the entrepreneurship ecosystem in northern Ghana.
The grant funding of GH¢100,000 is from the State Chancellery of North-Rhine Westphalia under a project dubbed ‘The Grow Northern Ghana project’ is to be disbursed from December 2021 to April 2022 in collaboration with the German development agency, GIZ.
According to MacCarthy Mac-Gbathy, Co-Founder and Executive Director HOPin Academy, the move will help create more investment opportunities, increase visibility and networking amongst startups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in northern Ghana, whilst driving local investments and developing resilience.
“The Academy is a prime entrepreneurship support organisation in Tamale that has been working around to birth an innovative micro-financing module for SMEs, startups, and other SMEs over the last seven years now.
We are very happy that our partners and investors believe and support this financing mechanism which is working to curb the unemployment rates in the Northern sector,” he said.
Explaining the pre-selection process, he stated that a call for application was made in November and December of 2021, and out of the numerous applicants, 50 startups were selected based on earlier criteria set in consultation with local entrepreneurship ecosystem players including startups, government, and private development partners and the Northern Ghana Business Federation.
The entrepreneurs are drawn from various fields such as shea butter production, local beverages, agribusiness, trading, artifact making, among others.
“The project also aims at developing, testing, and administering a public-private financing mechanism for covering small-scale investments for start-ups, matching seed money from the project with contributions from companies and/or other private sponsors based on an equal sharing formula. This would help contribute to the socio-economic development of the country,” Mr. Mac-Gbathy stated.
He urged entrepreneurs to be innovative with their ideas to take advantage of the opportunities available to grow their businesses.
So far, the Academy with support from its partners, the State Chancellery of North-Rhine Westphalia, GIZ-Ghana, and local investors in northern Ghana have supported 20 startups in December 2021 and January 2022 alone with GH¢40,000, he disclosed.
Madam Juwairiah, an entrepreneur who produces local drinks and confectioneries, described this initiative as novel and expressed her appreciation to HOPin Academy and GIZ for the opportunity to grow her business.
She said the support received will be used to create a website for her business to increase visibility and marketing efforts.
