Day: June 5, 2023

The Global South's largest convening on impact entrepreneurship and sustainable development, the Sankalp Summit, is hosting its 1st Edition in Accra on June 12 and 13. The Sankalp West Africa Summit 2023 presented by Intellecap and Sankalp Forum will positively engage 80+ Global and Regional Speakers and over 300 pioneering change-makers from the development ecosystem and impact community in West Africa, to discuss, define, and drive forward the critical levers of entrepreneurial success, across more than 16 interactive sessions. This year's summit on the theme :'Catalysing Collaborations for Entrepreneur led development in West Africa' will focus on the power of partnerships in supporting the growth of entrepreneurs in the region and driving critical discussions around focus areas like Climate and Energy, Agriculture, Health and Nutrition, Circular Economy, Financial Inclusion, Gender and Livelihoods. The Summit will also feature speeches by government dignitaries, insights from Global leaders, learning sessions through master classes, insightful panel discussions, francophone country spotlights, and the Sankalp West Africa Awards showcasing promising startups. There will also be fireside chats, a fashion show that celebrates sustainability, an Electric Vehicle test track to focus on climate change and an entrepreneur-investor LIVE deal room, all aimed at celebrating entrepreneurship, forging collaborative partnerships, and imagining the future beyond the goals themselves. Speaking about the West Africa Summit, Arielle Molino, AVP Intellecap and Sankalp Africa Lead said, 'For over a decade Sankalp in East Africa has demonstrated the ability to drive action and influence outcomes, and now with our 1st Sankalp West Africa Summit 2023 we're very excited to bring the Summit along with our partners. We will bring together our expertise across the Global South to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem and to catalyse collaborations to make measurable contribution towards driving a sustainable economic and inclusive agenda for West Africa'. Vikas Bali, CEO, Intellecap said, 'As the world chases ambitious Social Development Goals, the Summit shifts the focus on the questions that West Africa collectively desires to address. The summit brings together a confluence of entrepreneurs and businesses, curated conversations and inspired learning, all of which will have a substantial contribution in addressing and answering complex challenges. We are grateful to our partners who joined us for the West Africa summit.' The summit will witness key partners like Visa Foundation, IDRC, Siemens, AFEX, Energy Catalyst and Miller Center, coming together to help achieve the SDGs , with each of them lending specific perspective and insight. Flaubert Mbiekop, Senior Programme Officer, Canada's International Development Research Center said, 'Building an inclusive and sustainable economy is at the heart of our impactful work in West Africa. Inclusive business, entrepreneurship and Innovation will deliver transformative impact and the Sankalp West Africa Summit is a great opportunity to meet promising impact enterprises and showcase adaptable, sustainable solutions to stimulate conversations, collaborations, innovation and investments. We believe in the power of partnerships to deliver real, inclusive and transformative impact.' Another key part of the summit is the Sankalp West Africa Awards which aims to recognize and reward high impact enterprises. Five finalists from key impact sectors will pitch their enterprises and to a jury panel comprising of eminent business leaders and three will get the opportunity to highlight their journey of impact at the Summit as they win the prestigious awards for their outstanding ideas. Sankalp Forum was initiated in India in 2009 by Intellecap, part of the Aavishkaar Group, to create a thriving ecosystem for business-led inclusive developments.

Source: Ghana News Agency

First Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Jrgen Rigterink will pay a visit to Tunisia from June 5 to 9, 2023. He will be joined by Heike Harmgart, Managing Director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, and Nodira Mansurova, Associate Director, Head of Tunisia, EBRD said in a statement Monday. During the visit the First Vice President will hold meetings with senior Tunisian officials, including Prime Minister Najla Bouden, Economy and Planning Minister and EBRD Governor Samir Saied, Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri, Agriculture, Hydraulic Resources and Fisheries Minister Abdelmonem Belati, Communication Technologies Minister Nizar Ben Neji, and Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Marouane El Abassi. The visit will also include the inauguration of Elec'Recyclage's new recycling plant. The EBRD is a multilateral bank that promotes the development of the private sector and entrepreneurial initiative in 36 economies across three continents. Since the start of its operations in Tunisia in 2012, the EBRD has invested close to pound 2 billion in 62 projects across the country, in both the private and public sectors.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG)has launched a Programme for the youth dubbed: 'Raising Young Presbyterian Entrepreneurs' (RYPE) in Koforidua, Eastern Region. The Raising Young Presbyterian Entrepreneurs Project is designed to support the young Presbyterians to explore creative and innovative opportunities to think through, develop and create their own businesses. It also aimed at reducing the over-reliance on non-existent public sector jobs and opening up new avenues of growth and productivity for the youth. The project's target for 2023 is to reach out to a thousand young persons with information and training on various entrepreneurship processes. The RYPE application portal was opened for the youth in the Church aged between 15-35 years to apply for capacity-building skills as well as seed funds to promote their entrepreneurial activities. The Right Reverend Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, said the Church is focused on fulfilling a holistic mission as commanded by Jesus Christ in the Bible. He traced the roots of entrepreneurship development to the very beginnings of the Church, where the Basel Mission training curriculum was based on a philosophy of education that targeted the training of the head, heart, and hands. He said: 'The head was trained for general knowledge, the heart for the Gospel and the hand for skills development'. 'This was holistic education that trained the whole being and prepared them to serve as true witnesses of Jesus Christ to the world,' he added. Rt. Rev. Mante said: 'The beneficiaries of these training regimens, whether adults or children were expected to be Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Environmental/Economic Witnesses'. He noted that the majority of the Church members were under the age of 30 years, so there was the need to put in measures that would support young persons to maximize their entrepreneurship and explore the opportunities to implement their ideas. That, he said, formed part of the environmental and economic witnesses of the Church. 'We want to see our young people setting up viable businesses, creating sustainable jobs, and making a lasting impact in society and the Church as a whole,' he added. The Moderator said while they concede that Government alone could not address all those challenges, ' l want to submit that if the Church does not seek to address the needs of the teeming youth, then it is not ready for the future'. 'It is in light of this that we want to specifically place emphasis on this aspect of our mission and focus on creating more young entrepreneurs,' he said. Mrs Rebecca Teiko Sabah, the National Director for Development and Social Services, an NGO umbrella of the Church, stated that the intervention was critical to address and respond to current youth unemployment demands and felt needs. ' Last year, the PCG kick-started the process with a Public Lecture that focused on job creation for the youth. ' Various speakers and representatives of the Government addressed the forum on the issues at stake. This year, we want to walk the talk and that is the reason we are here today to launch this project,' she said. She said already they had started with monthly online webinars and face-to-face Entrepreneurship Clinics across the country. Mrs Sabbah said the ultimate target was to support individual young persons to design and develop new businesses and/ or grow existing ones. The National Entrepreneurship Committee Chairperson of the Church, Dr Alexander Tetteh Nuer, indicated that RYPE was part of their mandate to tackle youth unemployment, which has security implications as well. The programme has the objective of supporting skills development and innovative entrepreneurship acumen for job creation. He outlined the components of the programme as assisting the selected youth to establish viable businesses, and their capacity strengthened to create jobs and grow businesses within the Church and Communities. Others include having access to high-class coaching from experienced Christian business professionals for six months; Start-up capital awarded to the best projects; up to 200 individual young persons supported to design and develop new and/ or grow existing businesses. The National President of the Young People's Guild, Mr Edwin Osei Ahwireng, thanked the Moderator and the leadership of the Church for the great initiative meant to empower the young people in the Church. He promised to mobilise his group to fully participate in the programme to enhance their livelihood.

Source: Ghana News Agency