Young Ghanaian entrepreneurs reach final of Oxford's 2011

The final of the 6th Annual Oxford International Youth Business Development (YBD) Competition was held on Tuesday, 6th September 2011 at Oxford University's Saïd Business School. Created by the Oxford MBA Class of 2006, YBD is a global competition that calls for young entrepreneurs, aged 16-25, to develop business ideas that address real economic, social, and environmental challenges.

This year's competition attracted over 200 proposals of which twenty were selected to receive mentor support from current Oxford MBA students with relevant sector and geographic expertise. These MBA mentors supported the entrepreneurial teams over the summer in market researching their ideas, and producing rigorous business plans. Four teams' plans were then shortlisted for the final in which each team pitched to a Saïd Business School investment panel via Skype video-conference. Prize money of £2,000 was made available by the Saïd Business School Dean, Peter Tufano.

The judging panel for the final was: John Hoffmire, Director of the Saïd Global Entrepreneur Network at Saïd, Hussein Kanji, early stage investor, formerly of Accel Partners, Udara Peiris, alumnus of Saïd and co-founder of YBD, and Howard Jones from the Saïd Business School's Finance Faculty, and YBD Chairman. The panel judged the final business plans on the criteria of IMPACT, SUSTAINABILITY and ACTIONABILITY. IMPACT refers to the envisaged social, environmental and/or economic benefits of the venture; SUSTAINABILITY to the ability of the teams to propose a viable financial model to sustain their activity; and ACTIONABILITY to the ability of each team to show how, with the prize money, they could immediately begin turning their ideas into practice.

The four teams that qualified for the final are:
SURESAVE: Mobile-based saving in Ghana (MBA Mentor: CHRIS ROE)

SureSave is a for-profit mobile savings service targeting the poor, unbanked and under-banked in Ghana. It seeks to provide a simple way for Ghanaians to save their money in small quantities at very frequent intervals. The user will buy a SureSave voucher (sold in different denominations) and send the voucher code to an SMS short code. The amounts collected are saved or invested, and the user can withdraw the money from any post office nationwide. SureSave makes a small charge on the interest payments to users.

AQUAREGIA: Water purification in India (MBA Mentor: DRUV JOSHI)

Aquaregia is a for-profit social enterprise in India which provides pure drinking water to rural families through a unique tier of local entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs form a network of businesses, by using Aquaregia's purification units, to provide pure water to villages across the country. Aquaregia intends to begin operations in one state, and diversify into a dozen states in five years.

LETSGRADUATE: Micro-donation/lending to students in India (MBA Mentor: ABHISEK KANOI)

letsgraduate (www.letsgraduate.org) is a not-for-profit venture that addresses the lack of higher educational opportunities for students from poorer backgrounds in India. Their solution lies in the creation of an online market place which helps students find donors/lenders. Donors/lenders have access to profiles of students who have been admitted to recognized universities. Once a student gets funded, he or he is obliged to repay the amount received, without interest (under the lending model), or volunteer with letsgraduate/donate to a future student (under the donation model).

PROJECT KHOOMBI: Community-based mushroom farming/selling in Pakistan (MBA Mentor: MOHAMMAD GARDEZI)

Khoombi (www.khoombi.com) is a for-profit venture aiming to set up a social enterprise that provides profitable business to local farmers. Khoombi will buy and sell mushrooms to meet demand from restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets in major Pakistani conurbations. Using a village-centric model, the mushrooms will be sourced from community farms close to these urban centres, and will itself facilitate the training of farmers and the production of mushrooms. The sale and marketing of these products will be handled by Khoombi providing a full-cycle service to its customers and stakeholders.

The prize was divided equally between the winners Aquaregia and letsgraduate. The judges felt that the teams clearly identified needs, and had devised plausible ways of meeting them and the teams aim to spend the prize money further testing their plans.

For further details about the competition or the Saïd Global Entrepreneur Network please contact the Saïd Business School Press Office:

Clare Fisher, Head of Public Relations, Saïd Business School

Direct telephone: +44 (0) 1865 422713, +44 (0) 1865 288855, Mobile: +44 (0) 7912 771090

Email: [email protected]
Josie Powell, Public Relations Coordinator
Direct telephone: +44 (0) 1865 422573, +44 (0) 1865 288403, Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Notes to Editors
1. About Saïd Business School
Established in 1996 the Saïd Business School is one of Europe's youngest and most entrepreneurial business schools with a reputation for innovative business education. An integral part of Oxford University, the School embodies the academic rigour and forward thinking that has made Oxford a world leader in education and research. The School has an established reputation for research in a wide range of areas, including finance and accounting, organisational analysis, international management, strategy and operations management. The School is dedicated to developing a new generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs and conducting research not only into the nature of business, but the connections between business and the wider world. In the Financial Times European Business School ranking (Dec 2010) Saïd is ranked 11th. It is ranked number one in the UK (11th worldwide) in the FT's combined ranking of Executive Education programmes (May 2011) and 27th in the world in the FT ranking of MBA programmes (Jan 2011). The Oxford MSc in Financial Economics is ranked 4th in the world in the 2011 FT ranking of Masters in Finance programmes (June 2011). In the UK university league tables it is ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business and management in The Guardian (May 2011) and has ranked first in eight of the last nine years in The Times. For more information, see www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/

2. About the Youth Business Development Competition

YBD is an annual business plan competition housed at the Saïd Business School's Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The competition targets entrepreneurs aged 16 – 25 worldwide. YBD was founded in 2005 by Saïd Business School's MBA and MFE students Dan Marmar and Udara Peiris, with the first competition held in 2006. YBD is run entirely by Oxford MBA student volunteers with support and oversight by the alumni founders and by an advisory board which comprises Saïd faculty and members of the extended Oxford business community. The unique feature of YBD is the involvement of the MBA class. The entrepreneurial focus of the MBA curriculum equips them with key knowledge into market research and business planning for new companies. YBD is effectively a knowledge transfer mechanism, whereby young people from diverse socio-economic and geographic backgrounds can tap into the intellectual capital and business knowledge and networks of the MBA class.