Under its economic empowerment programme, Ghana’s Ministry of Communication has tied up with MTN and the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Center (GMIC) to fund the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Business Incubation and Entrepreneurship Project in the country.
The Minister for Communication, Edward Omane Boamah who signed the partnership agreement document commended MTN for the gesture, and the uniqueness of the signing of the project, implementation of which would begin after the conclusion of the MoU.
According to a press statement announcing the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Serame Taukobong, said the agreement was a two-year project which would involve the organisation of an innovation competition targeted at final year tertiary students with expertise in ICT.
Taukobong noted that at the end of the competition, 10 start-ups would be selected into the business incubator program to be trained to have their skills sharpened in the areas of software development, programming and applications.
He said the signing of the ICT Business Incubator and Entrepreneur partnership affirmed MTN’s commitment to leading the delivery of a bold new digital world to the public.
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He expressed MTNs delight in the Business Incubator Partnership because research had shown that most small businesses were unable to excel to their 5th anniversary and that Africa was the worst; hence the need for business incubators to help businesses improve their survival rate.
Taukobong said while empowering the youth to be innovative, MTN also sought to invest in young entrepreneurs to develop and commercialise digital products and services as well as generally create wealth to strengthen both local and national economies.
In his comment, The Director of the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Center (GMIC), Solomon Asante Dartey, noted that the concept of incubation as a business development model had so far been the best means of support for technology commercialisation particularly in the area of ICT and the sciences.
Dartey said in line with the ICT for Accelerated Development Policy, the Ministry of Communication, in partnership with the United Nations development programme (UNDP), established the first government business incubator in 2005 at the Ghana Multimedia Incubator Center was.
The GMIC, he said, had the objective of aiding start-ups and young businesses that had ground-breaking and innovative ICT ideas to mature into viable business ventures through the incubation programme.
He disclosed that under the initiative, the first of its kind within the incubation space in Ghana, the MTN Foundation would contribute GH¢308,400.00 for a period of two years while the GMIC would give GH¢ 75,000.00, adding up a total of GH¢ 383,400.00. .
He said, the initiative was in line with the President’s vision of creating decent jobs for the youth of Ghana and urged other private sector players to support in the achievement of this vision.
