We are excited to share that the inaugural EduPreneur Project has been extended by 7 days! This extension aims to provide additional educational entrepreneurs with the chance to apply.
To apply, please visit https://eisdgh.org/edup24
Call/WhatsApp 0200170173/0540983315
See more details in the material below
In order to gain a deeper understanding of how Business Development Services can enhance the performance, competitiveness, and growth of Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), EISD organized a stakeholder engagement event focused on STREET ACCOUNTING PROJECT.
Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) play a crucial role in improving the quality of life in our communities.
This event took place at our Success Space on the 18th of January 2023.
The engagement was led by Mr. Bilal Taimako Shamsudeen, our director of Business Development.
During this discussion, the effectiveness of the ecosystem, the challenges faced, and the potential solutions were all key points of focus.
Below are photographs taken from the event
The EISD-NEIP Sustainable Acceleration Programme is aims to support the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Northern Region of Ghana. It is part of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) Hubs Acceleration Grant Programme (HAGP), which is under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project. The program has been implemented since its launch on 27th June 2023.
After a rigorous selection process, twenty finalists were selected from across the various districts in the Northern Region of Ghana. Of the twenty finalists, 50% of all participants were female and the remaining 50% were male. Four finalists were from the Eastern Zone, Yendi and its environs, two were from the Western Zone, Tolon and its environs, and the remaining fourteen were from the Central Zone, Tamale and its environs. The participants were from various business sectors including recycling and waste management, light manufacturing, beauty and cosmetology, events management, agroprocessing, clothing and textiles, software development, e-commerce, among others.
The first phase of the EISD – Sustainable Acceleration Programme [E-SAP] involved 13 sessions, including “Understanding your Business Environment,” “Driving Change in your Organization,” “Improving Productivity Through Communication,” “HR Systems and Practices for Better Workplace Management,” “Workplace Improvements through 5S,” “Enhancing Productivity through Lean Management,” “Essential Soft skills,” “Marketing, Sales, Customer Service,” “Safety at Work,” “Financing your Business,” “Managing Quality for Productivity Improvement,” “Pitching your business,” “Financing Models,” “Equity vrs Owner financing schemes,” “Forming and joining Networks and partnerships ‘dos & donts’,” and “Productivity through Cleaner Production.”
The second phase of the E-SAP involved onboarding all twenty beneficiaries onto the I Am Worth It Project (IAWIP) Success Degree Program on Wednesday, 13th December, 2023. This program provides year-long coaching and mentoring to the beneficiaries .
All twenty finalists expressed their appreciation to NEIP, the Ministry of Finance, and the World Bank for enabling this program. The acceleration experience has provided them with a new learning process, which has better positioned them to witness sustainable growth in their enterprises.”
The EISD-NEIP Start Up Acceleration Support Programme is under the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme – NEIP Hubs Acceleration Grant Programme (HAGP), under Ghana Economic Transformation Project.
We have been implementing the programme since its launch on 27th June 2023.
The beneficiaries of the programme are about to go through another step in the training cycle.
On the 13th of December 2023, beneficiaries will go through soft skills training and onboarding onto the IAWIP Success Degree Program for one year post training support.
As a new partner of EISD the I Am Worth It Project (IAWIP) joins as training partner.
Tammy Sherger will be our lead resource person for essential soft skills training.
As part of the EISD-NEIP Hub Acceleration Program, EISD has signed an MoU with a world leading provider of mindset, critical soft skills, innovative business skills and personal development training firm, the I Am Worth It Project (IAWIP). The IAWIP is to provide tailor made training solutions to EISD staff, partners, and clients.
The purpose of the MOU is to establish collaborative relations between EISD and the IAWIP in the area of mindset, personal development, and critical soft skills training to increase the personal and economic empowerment of beneficiaries and other stakeholders affiliated to the EISD by embedding IAWIP essential soft skills training solution into the current and future entrepreneurial training program/s of EISD.
As part of the MOU, IAWIP shall
EISD on the other hand shall
Tammy Sherger, the Founder and CEO of IAWIP, on her part said through engagements with relevant stakeholders in Ghana especially the government and its partners, it has become clear that the solution to unemployment and business growth is not only the required hard skills, but the underlying mindset, personal development and critical soft skills that do not usually form part of the educational and other training programs. She reechoed that globally there has been a shift in recognizing the importance of mindset, personal development, and critical soft skills training to support people to successfully become thriving entrepreneurs. IAWIP has developed a strategy to reach out to all beneficiaries of EISD through the I Am Worth It Project Coaching App.
She added that unlike other soft skills providers, IAWIP offers a 1-year post training support that is essential to inculcate the habits that are learned during the training, could track KPI’s and finally has a component of the Experts Calendar where a carefully curated calendar of experts provide specific and targeted training to identified areas to support beneficiaries ongoing growth and success.
Signing the MOU, the CEO of EISD, Mahadi Alhassan indicated that the collaboration with IAWIP is timely since his organization is currently looking at more innovative ways of increasing employability and business growth of their clients and beneficiaries. Mahadi concluded his remarks by saying the collaboration was going to lead to win-win situations for both organizations. He assured IAWIP that EISD will make all reasonable efforts to fulfill its part of the bargain in Ghana and across the African continent. He urged IAWIP to do the same.
Below is as captioned by the WEE-North Project of the Alinea Foundation after a validation workshop to outdoor the findings of the research.
Over 120 industry partners of Alinea Foundation and members of 30 Industrial Trades Associations and in Northern Ghana participated a unique set of workshops in Bolgatanga, Tamale, and Wa from 23rd to 26th October 2023. The workshop aimed to validate the first ever Gender Audit on trades associations in Northern Ghana and promote international best practices for gender-responsive industries. This workshop under the theme "Audit to Action" was facilitated by the Edugha Institute for Social Development (EISD). Following thought-provoking breakout sessions, each trade area within the five regions competed by pitching their ideas to promote gender mainstreaming. A panel of judges from Alinea Foundation's regional Project Advisor Committee (PAC) assessed these initiatives and awarded cash prizes for the best initiatives. The winners from each region were awarded GHS 3,000.00, while the first runner-up received GHS 2,000.00 to start their gender-responsive activities. Additionally, certificates of appreciation were presented to industry partners who provided Workplace Experience Learning opportunities for trainees by the Field Manger, Dr Nancy M. Drost. Participants emphasized the workshop's positive impact on their professional and personal development. They reaffirmed their dedication to supporting the WEE-North project.
We would like to thank the Alinea Foundation (under the WEE-North Project) for the opportunity to have undertaken this task.
After a hectic week of meeting many entrepreneurs, young and old, male and female alike, from pregnant women to nursing mothers and physically challenged, the EISD-NEIP Startup Acceleration Selection Train has covered all the districts in northern region across the three zones. The week has not only been successful but all the more insightful.
In all, we received a total of 568 applications and shortlisted 270 applicants for interviews across the three zones. 237 of the shortlisted applicants turned up for interviews and pitching, with 132 (56%) being females and 105 (44%) being males. There were 5 physically challenged applicants across the zones.
The businesses were in Agricultural services, Agribusiness and Processing, ICT, Energy, Education, Green Industries, Beauty and Personal Care, Hospitality, Water and Sanitation, Health, Clothing, and Accessories.
All of these applicants are out there breaking their backs trying to make a living; doing their very best to be relevant and make a difference in one way or another.
After sifting through all the interviews and business ideas presented, the team would be selecting the finalists to face off at the Regional Pitch Competition in a fortnight.
Stay tuned for more details on that.
Below are pictures across the zones.
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:
- Ownership must be 100% Ghanaian.
- Startups should be in the northern region.
- Must be ready and willing to undergo rigorous training schedules and other activities of the programme.
PROCESS FLOW FOR GRANT PROGRAMME:
- We will start with the Call for Applications
- Screening of applications
- Conduct Due Diligence
- The committee reviews, evaluates and approves, defer or decline applicants’ request using the established eligibility and selection criteria.
- Organize zonal business pitches
- Screening to select finalists from all zones to enter the Accelerator
- Final pitching to select top startups.
- Disbursements and monitoring of funds based on agreed implementation plan with beneficiaries
- 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
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.
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.
