In an event marked by a fitting degree of splendour, the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) on the 12th July, welcomed a new cohort of green and clean tech entrepreneurs into its incubation program.
GCIC’s Executive Director, Ms Rukayatu Sanusi, in her welcome address and congratulatory note encouraged the new cohort to take advantage of the value-added programs that are carefully tailored towards providing the entrepreneurs with a holistic experience to prepare and guide them on their entrepreneurial journey. She likened every entrepreneurship journey to that not only of a marathon but that of a steeplechase marathon – a tough, sometimes rugged journey with ditches and hedges presenting themselves as obstacles on your path. Ms Sanusi reminded Cohort 3 entrepreneurs that just as the marathon runner has to endure physical and mental training to ensure that their physiology is well prepared for the race, every entrepreneur also must ensure that their entrepreneurship muscles, mind and body is prepared, toned and firmed up for the entrepreneurial race. She encouraged and assured them that GCIC provides an optimal opportunity to train and to be competently and holistically equipped for the entrepreneurship journey. The race is tough, but she encouraged the entrepreneurs to keep focus and see their business grow to be a multi-million business.
Kwami Williams, co-Founder of Moringa Connect, one of the cohort two entrepreneurs, also shared his experience in the GCIC incubator thus far. He used a hand and mind illustration to describe how GCIC not only equips the entrepreneurs with knowledge and insight on how to start, operate and grow a business with unusual insight and intent, but also, through original programmes such as The Wellbeing Retreat, and the Women Entrepreneurs Transformation Programme, ensures the whole business – entrepreneur, enterprise and team – are well looked after.
The ceremony saw 10 new entrepreneurs being inducted into GCIC, bringing the total number of entrepreneurs in the incubator to 32. The 10 were selected from nine regions across Ghana after a rigorous selection process involving 6 stages. The 10 entrepreneurs inducted are:
Miriama Iddrisu- Yensom Enterprise
Linda Lariba Atibilla- Hope Givers
Peter Kweku Anowie- Kolics Ventures
Samlara Baah- Loo Works
Charles Tellier- So-B Green
Mark Yeboah-Agyepong- Trimark Aquaculture Centre
Alhaji Issahaku Mahama- Tiyumtaba Farms and Investment Ltd
Joseph Sowatey Komey- Synergy Recycle
Issahaku Zakaria- Mayiya Company Ltd
Lovans Owusu-Takyi- Sustainable technologies Ltd
The entrepreneurs were gifted with a potted plant from the Mimusops Elengi family. Why this plant? The Mimusops Elengi plant, also known as the tree of life, when fully grown reaches a height of up to 16m and is known for providing shade. The entrepreneurs were tasked to nurture their plant to maturity- just as they would do for their businesses with GCIC’s support.
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.