Maazu Bayuoni, CPI Executive Director

The fifth edition of CPI’s flagship Igniting Dreams program took place on 7th January 2023 in Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana. It enjoyed the support of many partners including the Sangu Delle Foundation, Rabito Clinic Limited, Noni-Hub and Reliance Fidelity International Group.

The program was a tremendous success with more than 300 young people attending the Summit. The summit featured two (2) powerful speeches on monetizing one’s talents through social media and investment opportunities in the banking sector.

The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Banguu Delle, the board chairman of CPI, who advised the youth to dream big and not be limited by their own imaginations.

For the first time in five years, the program brought together over 300 young entrepreneurs from all 5 regions in Northern Ghana. More than 70 young business personalities applied to the 2023 Igniting Dreams Prize and 10 of them were admitted into the Fellowship.

The young fellows received intensive one-month business development training in design thinking and lean methodology, business planning and strategy, business model canvas, financial projections, etc., all intended to make them investor ready.

Following the training sessions, all 10 fellows pitched their businesses at the Igniting Dreams Summit to contest for the ultimate prize of GH¢10,000.00 out of GH¢36,000.00 which was distributed as seed funding among all 10 of them.

AmiShea Company Ltd., a savannah region-based shea production company that processes shea nuts into butter, soaps, hair growth creams, cooking oil, and briquettes emerged as the top prize winner, taking home GH¢10,000.00.

Speaking to the media after the pitch, Amina Mumuni, founder of AmiShea company limited said “the 2023 Igniting Dreams program aided me to identify my business niche, design a working product and properly position my business for investment and growth.
The seed funding would enable me to purchase a grinding mill and a laptop and work on my packaging and branding to meet international standards. I am grateful to the Coalition for Positive Impact and their partners for this support, as it will significantly impact my business.”

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th prizes went to UniDev Company Ltd., Royal Avielle Ventures and IT-Hub respectively. They were awarded GH¢7,000.00, GH¢5,000.00 and GH¢ 3,000.00 in similar order. The 5th-10th placed fellows also received a sum of GH¢1,000.00 each to support their businesses.
These prize winners and some of the fellows will further undergo a six-month virtual accelerator program to help them access more funding and scale their businesses. In addition, they will gain access to more business development resources, mentorship/coaching, among others.

Participants of this year’s program expressed their excitement for the opportunity to network, develop new connections and be impacted by notable business personalities. In his remarks, Mr. Maazu Bayuoni, CPI’s Executive Director, reiterated that “if young people could receive training and funding for their businesses, it would help create millions of decent jobs for them”.

He ended by reemphasizing CPI’s resolve to bridge the lacuna between underprivileged young entrepreneurs and the needed support to grow and scale their ventures.
Igniting Dreams has consistently proven to be an integral pathway to developing young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana. Since its launch, the program has always attracted talented and ambitious young people and its alumni network continues to grow vibrantly.