EISD NEIP HUB ACCELERATION PROGRAMME START UP ACCELERATION PRESS LAUNCH

Photos & Full Press Release: EISD-NEIP’s Start-Up Acceleration Programme in N/R

  • The Edugha Institute for Social Development & National Entrepreneurship Innovation Programme (NEIP) with funding from the World Bank through the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday 27th June2023 launched the Start-Up Acceleration Programme for the Northern Region of Ghana.
  • This programme comes under the Hub Acceleration Grant Programme, of which EISD is a beneficiary.
  • The launch took place in our workspace in Tamale, with various media houses and key individuals in attendance.
  • The press release was delivered by the Deputy CEO of EISD, Mr. Bilal Taimako Shamsudeen, with Mr. Mahadi Alhassan (CEO of EISD) providing answers to ensuing questions from attendees. Ms. Sauda Belko delivered the introductory words to kick-start the event.
  • Below are photos from the event and the full press release.

Press Release

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, officials from the NEIP, National Youth Authority, Assembly men and women, our partners Tradeline Consults, Banks present, Entrepreneurship Ecosystem stakeholders present, Colleagues from EISD, Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the Press Launch of the EISD-NEIP Start Up Acceleration Support Programme under the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme – NEIP Hubs Acceleration Grant Programme (HAGP), under Ghana Economic Transformation Project.

The Ghana Economic Transformation Project has four (4) components, and NEIP’s programmes fall under Component 3 of the project, of which EISD is a beneficiary of.

The component 3 supports entrepreneurship and SME growth in non-resource-based sectors, and it is aimed at addressing the limited development of the SME and entrepreneurship support ecosystem, including early-stage financing to promote and strengthen a growth model that is conducive to economic transformation, to achieve higher rates of investment and productivity growth across the economy, especially in non-resource-based sectors. The EISD-NEIP Start-Ups Acceleration Programme which we are launching now is a Programme designed to support the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem by building the capacities of startups and existing businesses in the northern region to help their business ideas and services thrive. The Startups will be supported to see their business ideas become operational.

Our programme will see us group the various startups and businesses into three zones; the Bimbilla zone (which should take care of the Eastern corridor block including Yendi, Gusheigu, Karaga, Wulensi, Bimbilla, Kpandai, Chamba, etc); the Tolon Zone (which would include the Kumbungu, Nyankpala, Tolon, Savelugu environs) and the Sagnarigu zone (which would include Sagnarigu, Tamale and its immediate environs).

The Start-Up Acceleration Programme will competitively select a number of startups in these zones which will be provided with technical assistance, capacity building and financial assistance to accelerate their ideas and operationalize them.

With the Ghanaian start-up landscape seeing tremendous growth over the last decade, we cannot help but provide competitive, tailor-made solutions to startups in our catchment area. This is made possible by our collaboration with the Government of Ghana through the NEIP Hubs Acceleration Grant Program [HAGP]. With this, we are not only upgrading our Hub Space by increasing our seating capacity as a hub from 20 to 70 with the construction of 50-seater multipurpose Training and Conference Center, we are also upgrading our facilities. We are also better positioned to support more startups, as we are seeing with this Startup launch.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

We are, by this launch, opening a call for Applications for the EISD-NEIP Start Up Acceleration Programme. This Call is opened to all Startups and businesses in the northern region. Prospective Applicants can go on our website, www.eisdgh.org from

Wednesday, 28th June 2023 to apply. The Application link for the call will also be available on all EISD Social media platforms.

The closing date for the Application will be Monday 10th July 2023.

The Startup Programme will be focused on ideas and businesses operating in the following sectors:

Agriculture, technology & innovation, Light manufacturing & processing, waste & green businesses, and technical and vocational ideas as well as any idea/innovation that is directed at improving the quality of life of our people. We encourage the active participation of women, youth and persons with disability in the grant programme.

The qualification criteria for applicants are as follows:

  1. Ownership must be 100% Ghanaian.
  2. Startups should be in the northern region.
  3. Must be ready and willing to undergo rigorous training schedules and other activities of the programme.

PROCESS FLOW FOR GRANT PROGRAMME:

  1. We will start with the Call for Applications
  2. Screening of applications
  3. Conduct Due Diligence
  4. The committee reviews, evaluates and approves, defer or decline applicants’ request using the established eligibility and selection criteria.
  5. Organize zonal business pitches
  6. Screening to select finalists from all zones to enter the Accelerator
  7. Final pitching to select top startups.
  8. Disbursements and monitoring of funds based on agreed implementation plan with beneficiaries
  9. Provide one year of mentoring and coaching while undertaking periodic monitoring and audits to ensure compliance and use of funds for right purposes.

Acknowledgements:

  • I’ll first thank the NEIP team, the World Bank, the team from the Ministry of Finance, the team from Delloitte for making this possible.
  • Thanks to the project Team from EISD
  • Thank our partners Tradeline Consults, North TV, among others.
  • We would also want to thank all ecosystem players present, the media and everybody present.

Finally, we thank H.E the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for his continuous support for the growth of Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, for his various interventions to ignite and unleash the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of young people in a bid to mark conscious departure from job seeking to job creation and job ownership

With these said, I have the singular honour to formally declare the EISD-NEIP Startup Support Programme LAUNCHED.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Bilal Taimako Shamsudden

Photos

EISD begins renovation works after receiving NEIP Hubs Acceleration Grant

EISD begins renovation works after receiving NEIP Hubs Acceleration Grant

As one of the beneficiaries of the $7 million NEIP Hubs Acceleration Grant Programme under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project-GETP, expansion, renovation, refurbishing, and restructuring works have begun in earnest to give our hub the needed facelift and also increase our training capacity from 20 to 70. This includes but is not limited to IT support, greening, and Ideas Space expansion among others.

Ghana Economic Transformation Project has four (4) components, and NEIP’s programmes fall under Component 3 of the project.
Component 3 supports entrepreneurship and SME growth in non-resource-based sectors, and it is aimed at addressing the limited development of the SME and entrepreneurship support ecosystem, including early-stage financing to promote and strengthen a growth model that is conducive to economic transformation, to achieve higher rates of investment and productivity growth across the economy, especially in non-resource-based sectors.

At EISD we believe creating a platform for businesses and people to develop their capacities and see their businesses and ideas thrive is the way to go.

Photos of ongoing works

EISD-WEENORTH Training to Employment Program eisdgh.org

EISD, Wee-North Training to Employment Programme

EDUGHA Institute for Social Development is happy to be contributing to training young women under the Wee-North Project with funding from Global Affairs Canada.

Economic empowerment for young women in non-traditional industrial trades provides not only a source of livelihood for these women, but the rippling effect of this cannot be overstated.

As a partner of Alinea International, we are committed to delivering this training for young girls in Vinyl Tiles and Artificial Grass Installation. We deliver this training in a holistic approach that ensures that young women are able to move from novices to entrepreneurs as soon as practical.

Twenty girls, 10 from the northern region and 5 each from the Upper East and Upper West regions, are not only the first girls to undergo this training but actually, the first team to undergo the Vinyl Training in Northern Ghana.

The program would be a three-month-long training. The girls would go through three weeks of practical and theory sessions, which would include soft skills training to help the girls transition to the world of work. The soft skills training include knowing yourself, what is holding you back from being an Entrepreneur, Understanding the business environment in Ghana, Kaizen Principles, social media, your business, basics of marketing, etc.

This would be followed by a two-month 360 Degree Attachment, which allows them to commercialize their craft. This would involve field practice engagements, marketing and sales of the Vinyl and AstroTurf products, etc. Upon completion of this three-month program, the girls would be ready for the world of work.

EISD is partnering MODERN FLOORS to deliver the hard skills component of the training. MODERN FLOORS® is a UK-trademarked flooring brand which wholesales & retails the Best Quality Affordable Artificial Carpet Grass , AstroTurf , Vinyl(PVC/SPC) Tiles(LVT), Carpet Tiles , Adhesives and other indoor and outdoor flooring products used for both Residential & Commercial spaces.

The program is a journey we are all happy to be part of. We all have a role to play. Let’s support our young women in any way we can because they too can and they will.

EISD benefits from NEIP's GETP Project

EISD benefits from NEIP’s GETP Project

Edugha Institute for Social Development – EISD is glad to have been selected as part of the beneficiary Hubs after a very competitive application process by the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme-NEIP Hubs Acceleration Grant Programme under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project-GETP with the support of the Ministry of Finance with funding from the World Bank Africa.

The Hubs Grant Programme will support the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem which Edugha Institute for Social Development is part of, by building our capacities to bring the quality of our services up to international standards.

Our Hub will be supported to run programmes, that would benefit firms and startups within our communities.

The Grant Contract Signing Ceremony was held at the Labadi Beach Hotel on Thursday, 8th June 2023.

Sensitisation-Workshop-for-Managers-and-Proprietors-of-ECDC-in-Northern-Region-EISD3-1

Sensitisation Workshop for Managers and Proprietors of ECDC in the Northern Region

The Department of Social Welfare, Northern Region, and the Edugha Institute for Social Development (EISD) collaborated to organize a sensitization workshop for proprietors and managers of Early Child Development Centres on Wednesday, 19th January 2022.

This sensitization workshop was a welcome idea for many private schools, as there has been a gap between the schools and the Department of Social Welfare.

EISD in its bid to promote quality supervision and proper learning environments collaborated with the DSW to make this workshop see the light of day.

The Regional Director Madam Joyce Kulevo educated the schools on the mandate of the Department of Social Welfare and requirements to operate ECDC (The Children’s Act 560 / LI 1705).

She said, “The best interest of the child shall be paramount in any matter concerning a child.”

She spoke on the process schools would have to go through to get registration and certification of ECDCs, supervision, and monitoring for child protection standards, supporting centres to improve care, training of attendants/caregivers and closing substandard ECDCS. She charged the managers and proprietors of ECDCs to see the DSW as partners as the DSW had more roles to play to support the children and their parents/ guardians including maintenance of children, child custody issues, paternity issues, family reconciliation/family welfare services, adoption, poverty alleviation through leap among others.

As part of the workshop, other resource persons including a representative from the Regional Nutrition Department, Madam Joyce Laari and Mr. Haruna from the Ghana Red Cross Society addressed issues of child nutrition and first aid respectively. Mr. Bouri Yahaya, from the Department of Environment and Sanitation, also addressed issues of sanitation ad hygiene in our schools.

The Deputy CEO of EISD, Bilal Taimako Shamsudeen on his part introduced EISD to the participants and explained the cocktail of activities EISD had in store for the proprietors including its Pre-School Teacher Training programme and its tailor-made courses for the 2022 calendar year. He explained the courses were designed to help participants grow their knowledge base, acquire new skills, and increase efficiency on the job whilst interacting with other professionals. In all of this, the participants were encouraged by Mr. Bilal to build networks they could always leverage.

The programs include soft skills training for teachers, identification of and intervention for children with special needs, a well-managed classroom for 21st-century teachers, connecting with students and understanding their emotions, stress management for teachers, first aid techniques for teachers, communication and facilitating skills that make teachers more effective, ethics of teaching, alternatives to corporal punishment in school that work, helping children overcome depression, partnering with parents for student success, building and retaining excellent staff teams, 21st-century school leadership, creating results-driven and child-friendly schools, schools administration, management and development, staff evaluation and monitoring, etc.

The participants/ proprietors on their part bemoaned the slow nature of the processes with the Department of Social Welfare and how these engagements were necessary for all parties involved.

The Regional Director of DSW was happy with the contributions and said she and her team were committed to getting the right things done and supporting the schools to do the right thing.

The Deputy CEO of EISD was also challenged to ensure that the courses were affordable for the schools. A total of one hundred and thirty-eight schools were in attendance.

Snaps from the Event

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EISD Deputy Director Wins AUL Award

We wish to congratulate our industrious Deputy Director who also doubles as our Director of Business Development; Mr. Bilal Taimako Shamsudeen, on receiving the “AUL AWARD in Educational Entrepreneurship and Young Women in the North“.

Congratulations