NEIP approves GH $40 million for innovation centres.

30 entrepreneurship and innovation centres around the nation have received GH40 million from the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP).

By enhancing the ability of entrepreneurship hubs to raise the caliber of their services to worldwide standards, the grant program supports the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The chosen centers, which were given up to GH2 million, will be helped to implement programs that would help businesses and entrepreneurs in different locations across the nation.

Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, the chief executive of NEIP, gave Rapid News GH the information when he signed the deal with the several hubs at a ceremony in Accra last Friday.

This award program, he continued, “supports the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by strengthening the capacities of entrepreneurship hubs to raise the caliber of their offerings to international standards.” NEIP

The ceremony, which was dubbed “Hubs Acceleration Grant Program,” was attended by representatives of the Ghana Hubs Network, the Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) of the Ghana Economic Transformation Project (GETP), the World Bank Country Office, and Deloitte Project Consultants.

According to Mr. Nkansah, the most recent funding fell under GETP component three, which is backed by the World Bank.

He continued by saying that the assistance was intended to address the SMEs’ limited development as well as create an ecosystem that would foster entrepreneurship.

He clarified that this included early-stage finance to build a growth model supportive of economic transformation in order to draw higher levels of investment and boost productivity and economic growth.

Technical help and capacity-building would be given to the recipients to fill any gaps found during a benchmarking exercise.

Selection

The beneficiaries, according to Mr. Nkansah, were chosen based on criteria such being lawfully registered in Ghana, having 100% Ghanaian ownership, and having functioned as an enterprise support organization in the nation for at least three years.

The beneficiary hubs must meet other requirements for selection, including having core competencies in entrepreneurship support and business acceleration, being able to present a qualified and competent team of business development experts, mentors, and trainers, and being able to show that they follow accepted business practices like good corporate governance, bookkeeping, accounting, and so forth.

Hubs Network

Josiah Eyison, the president of the Ghana Hubs Network, praised NEIP for their work since 2017 to improve the capabilities of hubs in the ecosystem.

Although the funding was a gift, he said that the centers would work hard to repay it through innovation, job creation, and general economic growth.

Alhaji Mahmoud Tahir, the GEPT Component Three Specialist, recommended the hubs to make deliberate efforts to use the monies by having a significant positive impact on the economy.

He urged the hub’s beneficiaries to conduct their companies according to contemporary corporate governance standards. NEIP

Franklin Ashiadey, the coordinator of the Project Coordinating Unit (PCU), praised the hubs and counseled them to seize the chance to leave legacies. He also exhorted them to foster an environment conducive to ideation and to sell such ideas.

Francis Opoku Mensah, the project’s lead consultant, suggested that the hubs use the grant money to create jobs, develop new ideas, and support the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation.

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