The Design and Technology Institute (DTI) has awarded five small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) students with a total of $25,000 in seed capital to support their business ideas as part of the Community Innovative Project pre-accelerator program.
The competition is an entrepreneurial initiative and accelerator designed to identify, recognize and support promising student-led businesses with the potential to scale and create sustainable jobs for teeming unemployed youth.
The initiative recognizes students with creative and innovative ideas in agriculture, water and sanitation, plastic recycling, e-waste and other sectors of the economy. As part of the competition, participants engaged in in-depth research and engagement with communities to jointly design solutions that would sustainably address communal issues.
Winners graduate and advance their prototypes to a six-month pre-acceleration program. The pre-acceleration program will serve as a platform for the winners to obtain extensive business management, financial and operational resources and will be a catalyst for fundraising and investment opportunities at DTI.
Ms. Constance Swaniker, Founder and CEO of DTI, congratulated the five teams for their well-deserved qualification to the Grand Final. “As a TVET Center of Excellence, we believe that empowering youth-led SMEs is critical to Ghana's economic development and accelerating progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We are excited to provide opportunities for youth-led SMEs to expand and reach their entrepreneurial potential through our community innovation project and look forward to seeing their businesses grow.”
“As the leading prototype development center in West Africa, we are on a journey to train and develop students who are attuned to the socio-economic needs of people, community and business and are ready and willing to develop innovative solutions to meet these needs. income for themselves and also create sustainable jobs for the youth,” she added.
Winners were selected by a panel of judges from industry and academia to evaluate the ideas for their originality, practicality, potential impact and scalability.
The overall winner, Master Kraft, developed a multi-purpose wheelchair for the elderly and the disabled, won $10,000
The first runner-up, Tom SB developed a burglar-resistant security system, won $7,000
In second place, Quickserve developed a mobile application for the supply of welders and digital innovators, who received $5,000
Consolation Prize, FIRM-JZ developed multi-purpose ladder truck received $1,500
Consolation Prize, Nine Tech Engineers - AdvansRule received $1,500
Competition
The five finalists were selected from a shortlist of 15 teams that underwent a six-month training in problem identification, research, ideation and prototype development that began on December 15, 2021. The finalists had the most innovative ideas with the potential to scale and create sustainable jobs.
The competition is part of DTI's three-year partnership with the Mastercard Foundation under Young Africa Works, "Transforming Youth TVET Livelihoods for Sustainable Jobs". The project will provide 40,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities for the youth of the country.
The Community Innovation Project seeks to build a portfolio of innovative start-ups that will be incubated and supported with seed capital, business development services, market access and space for creators to grow their innovations from idea to sustainable businesses.
Commissioning of an ultra-modern machine shop and Makerspace
DTI has also commissioned an ultra-modern machine shop and manufacturing facilities for effective teaching and training at the institute.
The machines will enable leaner people to work efficiently on their ideas and concepts, design and develop prototypes, and also ensure that the products developed are accurate and meet industry and consumer requirements.
Launching the workshop and makerspace, Ms Swaniker called on the industry to work with TVET institutions such as DTI to develop products that are relevant to them. “We are open to working closely with industry to advance the cause of developing prototypes and products that will respond to the needs of industry while creating jobs for the youth.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ghana TVET Service, CTVET, Ghana Standards Authority, financial institutions, academia, industry experts, students and young entrepreneurs.
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