On the Thursday 15th November 2018, for the first time since the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) was launched in 2016, the GCIC held an open house at its offices located at Ashesi University. The Open House was aimed at creating awareness about GCIC among members of the Ashesi Community, and saw in attendance Ashesi students and staff. Ashesi University is the lead consortium partner of the GCIC, leading the implementation of the Centre’s programmes and activities together with Ernst & Young Ghana, SNV Ghana and the United Nations University’s Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
Primerose Katena, winner of the Treasure Hunt with one of the GCIC Ashesi Greengo Reps, Adam Ghaffar
The day’s activities included a Campus-wide treasure hunt, a Green elevator pitch competition and an information session about GCIC. For the Green elevator pitch competition, the participants were tasked with presenting their green business idea to a potential investor in 90 seconds or less. The Green elevator pitch competition saw innovative ideas being presented, from use of microalgae in harness energy to manufacturing of bags from plastics to organic vegetable farming, an already existing student-led business at Ashesi University. After 7 competitive pitches, Aisha Jallow, a Class of 2019 Business Administration student major, won the Green elevator pitch competition for her innovative idea in using education to spread awareness on Climate Smart Agricultural practices.
Aisha Jallow, winner of the Green Elevator Pitch
In line with GCIC’s values- curiosity, innovation and leadership- which are the foundations of GCIC’s daily operations, and to also create a much more impactful relationship between GCIC and the Ashesi student community, GCIC recruited its first set of 6 student campus ambassadors dubbed, GCIC-Ashesi #GreenGo Reps. The Ashesi #GreenGo Reps are tasked with not only creating awareness about GCIC within the Ashesi community but also encourage students to come up with innovative green businesses and help create awareness on lifestyle changes that can be adopted within the Ashesi community to reduce or help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Check out photos from the event here: https://bit.ly/2Q78FUs
About GCIC
The Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) is a pioneering business incubator whose objective is to support entrepreneurs and ventures involved in developing profitable and locally appropriate solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation in Ghana. The Centre’s key focus is on building businesses operating within the areas of energy efficiency, domestic waste management, solar energy, water supply management and purification and climate-smart agriculture. GCIC is part of the World Bank Group’s infoDev Climate Technology Program. Supported by the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands, the Centre is managed by a consortium led by the Ashesi University College and including Ernst & Young, SNV Ghana, and the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
About Ashesi University
Ashesi University is a Ghanaian private non-profit university globally recognized for quality and innovation in tertiary education. The mission of Ashesi is to educate a new generation of ethical, entrepreneurial leaders in Africa; and to cultivate within the students critical thinking skills, concern for other and the courage it will take to transform their continent. Ashesi provides exceptional teaching, has expanding research capabilities and has a growing capacity to transfer research and projects into entrepreneurial solutions. The University has consistently received acclaim for the independent, critical thinking capabilities of its students and has a 100% placement record with its students receiving job offers or starting a business within 6 months of graduation.