BBB Alumni – a golden pool for investors

Opportunities for making investments in Ghana are growing by the day.

Many Ghanaians are digging deep into their creative reserves and are discovering their entrepreneurial skills which they are ready to unleash to create wealth, and they need investors.

Technoserve Ghana with financial support from Google.org, the philanthropist wing of the world leader in internet search engines Google.com has been creating the platform for bright, daring and passionate entrepreneurs to test their capabilities at reviving or starting their businesses. Technoserve has been able to achieve that through Ghana's National Business Plan Competition.

The first competition was organised in 2006. The first phase always begins with hundreds of competitors who submit an outline of their business plans. Judges assess them and sixty qualify for the second stage.

Indeed, every stage comes with a benefit which includes training in business development and how to write the business plan.

The sixty who qualify for the second stage however, get to go through a seven-week course in business management.

The Faculty for this course consists of the very finest in teaching business in Ghana. They include Prof. John Ahetor, a Chartered Accountant and former Professor at the University of Ghana Business School, Mr. Ali Nakyea, a Tax Consultant, Mr. Senyo Dzandu, Chartered Accountant and Consultant, Mr. Kofi Bentil, Marketing Consultant and Lecturer, Ashesi University. Other resource persons are Dr. Patrick Awuah, President of Ashesi University, Hermann Chinery-Hesse of The Softtribe, Mrs. Ellen Hagan of Elaine and Kobby Asmah of Type Ltd.

At the end of the seven-week training, all the sixty participants, with the help of their mentors complete a business plan.

From this stage, twenty are selected to move to the third and final stage of the competition.

The overall winner for the 2006 competition was Mr. Joseph Tackie, who already owns and manages a meat processing business. The winner for the 2007 event was Mrs. Sheila Ocansey a Human Resource practitioner.

The 120 graduates of the second phase have formed an association known as the BBB Alumni, (BBB for Believe, Begin, Become) and each member of this group has a complete business plan that is ready for financing after some fine-tuning.

The businesses developed by members range from agro-processing, ICT, manufacturing, housing, hospitality, education, publishing and agriculture.

Any investor, who is interested in financing business that has been developed by any member of this group, would be investing in a credible business idea that has been well thought, designed and developed, with the support and guidance of those who matter in entrepreneurship in Ghana.

This group of passionate and committed business people is a gold mine for angel investors, venture capitalists and financial institutions.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi