After an intense four-month battle, Reginald Boateng took home the winning cash prize of GH¢10,000.00 and souvenirs from MTN Pulse and Promasidor at the just ended MTN Pulse Business Challenge Competition. The event took place last week at the L’AINE Office Complex, Adabraka, where the top 5 contestants battled it out in a showdown for the title.
The First Runner Up of this competition, Joseph Kwame Nkrumah, also a student from the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), took home a cash prize of GH¢3,000.00 and some souvenirs from sponsors.
Joshua Addai Amoah, from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) also emerged Second Runner Up and took home a cash prize of GH¢2,000.00.
Occupying the Third and Fourth Runner Up positions respectively were Dorothy Opoku Durowaa, a student of KAAF University, and Derek Andy Dadzie, from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) who also won a cash prize of GH¢500.00 each and souvenirs from MTN Pulse and Promasidor.
Sitting on the panel of judges for this event were: Mr. Francis Afful, Senior Manager, Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management, MTN Ghana, Mr. Julio Cyriaano, Chief Business Officer, Echo House and Mr. Kofy Hagan, Executive Director, HR Focus Africa. The Judges were blown away by Reginald’s final pitch presentation, as he presented himself as the best MTN Pulse Ambassador, boldly naming himself ‘Mr. Pulse’.
The MTN Pulse Business Challenge is an annual business case study competition, organised by HR Focus among tertiary students in Ghana. This year, the competition was organised in partnership with MTN Pulse to groom innovative leaders for impactful change in the world of work in Ghana and across the globe.
The 2021 edition of the MTN Pulse Business Challenge was launched in a small ceremony on Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at the L’AINE Office Complex. This year, over 200 tertiary students applied to partake in the challenge. As a shortlisting mechanism, applicants were asked to send an elevator pitch of themselves to the HR Focus team and based on their appearance, presentation and the content of their pitches, thirty applicants were shortlisted to partake in this year’s challenge
In the course of the challenge, participants engaged in several activities including an orientation, 1stElimination Round, MTN Pulse Bootcamp, 2nd Elimination Round, Semi Finals and the Grand Finale.
Orientation & first elimination
An orientation session with the Editor-In-Chief of the HR Focus Africa Magazine, Ewurabena Neequaye, was organised for the participants to give them an insight into what the competition entailed and what is expected of them. Shortly after the orientation session, the first elimination round of the challenge took place at the L’AINE Office Complex, Adabraka on 23rd September, 2021. Participants’ ability to strategize, think on their feet and work in groups were tested through real life case studies presented to them. Based on the scores and feedback from the judges, 20 participants were selected to proceed to the next stage of the challenge- the Second Elimination Round.
Bootcamp & second elimination round
Before the Second Elimination Round, an intensive bootcamp was organized for the top 20 participants. During the bootcamp, participants learnt from top notch and esteemed professionals in the world of work on the topics, budgeting, personal grooming, public speaking, PowerPoint presentation preparation and social media for branding.
Delivering the training on budgeting was Francis Afful, Senior Manager, Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management, MTN Ghana. The training on public speaking was also delivered by David Dei Awuku, a professional MC, Content Creator and Creative Lead at Echo House.
The training on personal grooming, PowerPoint presentation and social media for branding were delivered by Ewurabena Neequaye, Editor-In-Chief, HR Focus Africa Magazine; Delis Williams, Content & Community Officer, HR Focus Africa; and Kwame Kyei-Yamoah, Creative Lead, Echo House respectively.
The second elimination round was held on November 1, 2021 at the L’AINE Office Complex, Adabraka. The top 20 Participants were randomly sorted into five groups, each group was presented with a real-life case study which they had to solve and present their solutions to the judges. The judges awarded marks based on the appearance, content of presentation, confidence and the critical thinking skills of the participants. At the end of this stage, ten out of the twenty participants qualified to the next change of the challenge- the Semi-Finals.
Semi finals
Participants were required to work on their case studies individually and not in groups at the semi-finals stage of the challenge. Each participant was also assigned a coach to help them with the aesthetics of their PowerPoint presentations.
Assisted by their abled coaches Delis Williams, Content & Community, HR Focus Africa; Richmond Nii Okai Tackie, Freelance UI/UX Designer; and Delalorm Kosi Fiaka, Head, Media, Sales and Events, HR Focus Africa, participants took turns to impress the judges with their presentations. Five contestants in the persons of: Dorothy Opoku Durowaa (KAAF University), Derek Andy Dadzie (KNUST), Reginald Acheisu Boateng (UPSA), Joseph Kwame Nkrumah (UPSA) and Joshua Addai Amoah (KNUST) emerged finalists at the end of this stage.
The grand finale
The five finalists walked into the venue of the event, poised for victory. The competition begun with a quiz session centered on how best the participants knew the MTN Pulse App. Working as a team during the second phase of the competition, contestants were asked to present a plan on how they would boost the student subscriber base of the HR Focus Africa Magazine and in the final phase of the competition, participants were asked to sell themselves in five minutes, stating the ideas they would implement and why they should be given the role of the MTN Pulse Brand Ambassador to tertiary schools. The judges awarded marks based on the critical thinking skills, intelligence, Business Knowledge, appearance and confidence of the participants.
The MTN Pulse Business Challenge provides a great platform for tertiary students to learn business strategy and gain expert knowledge on marketing and advertising from renowned resource persons in the world of work. This year’s challenge was sponsored by MTN Pulse, Kasapreko, Kuulpeeps, L’AINE Services and powered by HR Focus.
