The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has congratulated students of Serwaa Kesse Girls' Senior High School (SHS) at Duayaw Nkwanta in the Ahafo Region for emerging winners of this year's National Business Pitch Competition (NBPC).

The high-spirited contestants from Serwaa Kesse Girls' SHS became champions after defeating 14 other schools in the highly competitive contest. T

hey won GH₵10,000 as start-up money at the event which took place in Accra on Friday.

Northern Business School and Accra Academy came second and third, respectively and were also presented with other cash prizes.

The NBPC is a platform dedicated to growing entrepreneurial skills among the youth through innovative ideas and the use of technology.

The congratulatory message was carried out in a press release signed by Felix A. Baidoo, Press Secretary to the Education Minister on Monday.

The message wished them well and described the feat chalked by the team as a manifestation of the effort being made by the government to boost the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the country.

"I must say that I am super excited for this feat chalked by the four young girls from Serwaa Kesse Girls' SHS. I can see that our hard work in STEM education has started yielding good results", the statement said.

The release assured the nation of the Education Ministry's commitment to continue collaborating with all stakeholders to put in place the right policies and programmes geared towards getting the best education for the country.

The competition was organized under the theme: "Fuelling Change Makers" by J. A Ghana Ltd, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) dedicated to empowering people to own their economic success by enhancing the relevance of education.

It brought together investors, technology gurus, representatives of banks, telecommunications, and non-governmental agencies.

The students presented solutions to challenges facing agriculture, solar energy, sanitation and hygiene. The solutions were in the form of mobile applications, appliances, products and services.

The Education Ministry was represented at the competition by the Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, who urged the schools to take advantage of such competitions, stressing that he was amazed at the level of knowledge the competing students had exhibited.

"Initially, we all thought money was the only thing needed to change the world, but what I have seen today clearly shows that ideas are also vital. I am impressed," he said.

Winning team

The ladies from Serwaa Kesse Girls' SHS pitched on a product they had manufactured called Seksolin.

Seksolin is a device that would convert solar energy into electrical energy to power electrical appliances and also be used for clean cooking.

The confidence, innovation, and business acumen of the team set them apart from the other competitors.

Other prizes

The Northern Business School took home the Academic City Excellence in Teamwork Award and Aburi Girls SHS picked the Tomorrow Foundation Award (Tech – Innovation Award) while PRESEC, Legon, also took home the Project Management Institute Educational Fund Award (Project Management Award).

Additionally, the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation Award (Entrepreneurial Spirit Award) went to Archbishop Porter's Girls; Northern Business School won the Primetime Limited Award (Excellence in Marketing Award) and Peter Gbedemah won the Public Choice Award.

The Executive Director of J. A Ghana, Mr Abeiku Greene, expressed his gratitude to all the participants.