Xodus Foundation has set aside some GHC30,000 grant to be given to startups and small businesses that are struggling amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Executive Director of Xodus Communications Limited, Richard Abbey Junior, the initiative dubbed “The Pitch" is to serve as a social change maker by providing technical and financial support to a selected number of entrepreneurs in Ghana, so as to help them grow and scale up their businesses into profitable ventures.

He said, this laudable competition will help inform the Ghanaian public about the importance of entrepreneurship as a tool for post covid-19 economic recovery.

“This is indeed a dream come true. I believe this will help showcase some of the young entrepreneurs leading the way in Ghana through innovation of new products and service”, he said.

The Approach

The Pitch is a 3-month long entrepreneurship competition that will be hosted once a year from October to March. The approach is to identify, screen, select and support any entrepreneur with a unique value proposition for the Ghanaian market. This proposition must have the highest growth potential with great social impact in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mentorship Drive

Selected finalists will be given a full day training on how to effectively package their businesses to attract the needed capital or investment for growth. Topics such as marketing, branding, international market entry, bookkeeping, accounting, working capital management, strategic planning, innovation, business plan development and company valuation will be taught at the mentorship programme to equip the young entrepreneurs with the requisite skills for enterprise development.

Over the long term, the five finalists will receive technical assistance from mentors and coaches for 12 months to help in managing and growing their businesses effectively through innovation. This will be fully funded by the Pitch initiators and partners.

Funding support and accessibility

The final participants will have the opportunity to bid for the grand prize of GHC30,000 through voting (at no cost) by the Ghanaian public. This will constitute 50% while the verdict of the jury will constitute 50% to determine the ultimate winner via a live show to be telecast on all approved social media channels.

The winner, first runner up and second runner up will have the additional opportunity to pitch their businesses to private equity funds, venture capital funds, angel investors and other institutional investors that the PITCH has identified as strategic partners for the competition.

Eligibility

Contestant Must:

• Be an entrepreneur
• Be a citizen of Ghana or resident in Ghana
• Be between 20 and 40 years of age
• Have a legally registered business
• Have a business that is operating for at least 12 months with minimum turnover of GHC50,000
• Run a venture that has a Bank Account
• Run a venture that has a functional website
• Be an entrepreneur with majority shares of at least 51% in the venture in case the venture is owned by more than one party
• Must submit copy of National ID Card as proof of identity and age

Assessment Criteria

The following criterion shall guide the overall assessment, rating and declaration of the Winner for the PITCH

• Commercial Viability of Venture – (30%). This refers to revenue size, number of customers or clients, number of employees, profit margin, growth rate of the venture, pending contracts secured, jobs created etc
• Style and Quality of Presentation – (20%). Organization, logic, financial analysis etc
• Votes from the Public – (25%). The public viewers will vote to have a say in the process of selecting the winner of the competition.
• Votes from the Jury – (25%). The jury will vote to constitute 25% of the overall marks for assessing the winner of the competition.

The above criteria shall apply for each elimination stage of the competition until the grand finale when the ultimate winner shall be announced.

Thematic Areas

The competition is open to young entrepreneurs operating ventures in any of the following sectors:

• Service
• Technology
• Manufacturing
• Food & Beverage
• Education
• Agriculture & Agro processing
• Health & Pharmaceuticals
• Telecoms and Mobile
• Others

10.0 Stages

The stages of PITCH are detailed below:

• Online Application
• Interview
• Selection
• Presentation to Jury
• Grand Finale
• Votes Collation and Tally
• Awards Ceremony