Fidelity Bank Ghana in collaboration with its partners has held an entrepreneurship forum dubbed the ‘Orange Summit’ for beneficiary entrepreneurs under the Fidelity Young Entrepreneurs Initiative (FYEI) which comprises the Fidelity Young Entrepreneurs Fund (FYEF) and the Orange Corners Innovation Fund (OCIF).

The Fidelity Young Entrepreneurs Initiative is aimed at supporting existing businesses and start-ups of local entrepreneurs with financial and non-financial resources to harness social impact potential, build capacity and guide youth-related businesses to grow and scale up their businesses.

The Orange Summit comes at the back of extensive research on challenges facing the various cohorts of the programme after two years of successful implementation of the Fidelity Young Entrepreneurs Fund and the Orange Corners Innovation Fund.

The Summit brought together industry experts, entrepreneurs and business executives to discuss how businesses can build financial resilience, harness marketing and branding for business growth and the importance of regulatory compliance to businesses.

Speaking at the forum, the Head of Partnerships, Sustainability and CSR at Fidelity Bank, Nana Yaa Afriyie Ofori-Koree, noted that the bank has shown an unwavering commitment to building and sustaining the growth of SMEs in Ghana through its various interventions in the area of entrepreneurship.

"This engagement is an opportunity to dialogue on the current challenges facing young entrepreneurs. The current economic environment dictates that entrepreneurs constantly find new ways of growing their businesses and that is why this summit is important.

"Apart from the financial support under the FYEI program, the bank and its partners also offer advisory and non-financial support, and that is arguably the most important aspect of the initiative. This is because financial support without the requisite knowledge and skills development is detrimental to any entrepreneurial endeavour.

In a presentation on Marketing, Brand Building and Business Growth, the Head of Digital and Brand Marketing at Fidelity Bank, Eric Frempong Amponsah, worked with participants through a series of practical steps to developing a proposal, understanding their most probable customers, and connecting with their target audience beyond their transactions and purchases.

"Develop the art of effective brand storytelling so that your products and services can resonate naturally with your target audience, that way you can sell without selling."

Other speakers from the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) also spoke extensively on regulatory compliance, and business growth, among others.

The entrepreneurs were advised to put to use the learnings from the summit and leverage on the impactful projects spearheaded by Fidelity Bank and its partners including Orange Corners, MDF, Vivo Energy Ghana, MPS Tema Port, People’s Pension Trust, the Kingdom of Netherlands and Friesland Campina.