The 8th Igniting Dreams Summit took place on July 10 and 11, 2026 at the Blue Hill Hotel in Wa, under the theme “Reimagining Possibilities: Youth Innovation and Investment in Northern Ghana.” It was the largest edition in the programme’s history by every measure that matters.
The Numbers
CPI planned for 300 participants. Over 450 registered, and by the close of the second day, more than 500 had attended, entrepreneurs, investors, traditional leaders, policymakers, development partners, and ecosystem builders from across Ghana.
18 fellows completed the full fellowship pipeline: virtual training, one-week residential boot camp, and live pitch competition. GH₵440,000 in seed capital was awarded to the top 10 performers through a live pitch competition judged by industry experts. Symbolic cheques were presented on stage, with funds to be disbursed directly to the founders’ businesses by CPI, the largest single disbursement in the programme’s eight-year history, made possible by a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
The Prize Winners
Frank Abendin of Agro KiniSols Ltd. took home the Gold Prize of GH₵100,000 to scale his AgriTech business focused on transforming guinea fowl production in Northern Ghana. Farihana Mohammed and Abdul Aziz Issah each received GH₵50,000. Thamar Victoria Afedu-Annan, Grace Yakubu and Yuori Ernest Yirsob each received GH₵40,000. Elizabeth Yennuloom Dayaak, Mohammed Amina Bimunka, Rafihatu Adam, and Habiba Issah each received GH₵20,000. All prize winners now enter a 6-month accelerator backed by CPI and the Mastercard Foundation. Eight others received GHS5,000 each to help them fulfill legal and regulatory requirements.
The People in the Room
The Upper West Regional Minister Charles Lwanga Puozing delivered the Day 2 keynote, recognising the strong representation of women — a deliberate design choice that produced a 70 percent female cohort. CPI President Maazu Bayuoni delivered the opening address, tracing the region’s development challenges to historical structural inequalities and announcing Vision 2050. Mawuse Gyisun of Sommalife Ltd shared her experience building an agribusiness from a motorbike on rural roads into a company that has digitised over 100,000 farmers. Mumuni Amina, 2023 prize winner, described how her seed funding grew a shea butter operation into an enterprise training 38 women and producing eight tonnes monthly.
Breakout sessions challenged participants to develop technology-driven solutions to real business problems — demonstrating what CPI is building beyond individual businesses: a collaborative ecosystem of founders who think together.
The Media Reach
The Summit generated coverage across Citi Newsroom, MyJoyOnline, radio, television, and social media. On LinkedIn, participants independently published reflections that extended the conversation well beyond the event. One widely shared post by participant Deborah Boodeme captured the shift plainly: “Investing in Northern Ghana is not an act of charity; it is a strategic investment in one of Ghana’s most underutilised economic regions.”
The Partnerships
The 2026 Summit marked the first edition of Igniting Dreams implemented in formal partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, a relationship CPI intends to develop into a sustained, long-term collaboration across future editions. The broader coalition supporting the programme includes Noni Hub, Fido, the Sangu Delle Foundation, the Anwelle Foundation, mNotify and MBC Africa.
The multi-partner model reflects CPI’s conviction that no single organisation or funder can close the pioneer gap alone. What the Summit demonstrated is that when capital, training, mentorship, and community converge around the right founders, the results are immediate and measurable.
The Story Being Told
Development programmes are measured by outputs. Those outputs matter and are recorded above. But the Summit produced something harder to quantify and more consequential: a shift in the story being told about Northern Ghana.
When 500 people converge at the Blue Hill Hotel in Wa for two days centred on youth innovation and investment, they are voting with their time. When 18 founders stand on a stage to pitch their innovative businesses to ecosystem players after months of structured training, they are providing evidence that the narrative of deficiency is incomplete. When GH₵440,000 is deployed in a single afternoon to businesses that are already operating and already employing, it stops being a donation and starts being an investment thesis.
The Summit did not create these entrepreneurs. They were already building. What it created was visibility.
Investment follows attention. Attention follows stories. The story the Igniting Dreams Summit 2026 told is simple: Northern Ghana’s entrepreneurs are not waiting to be saved. They are ready to be invested in.
The question is whether you are ready to meet them.
Learn more about CPI and the Igniting Dreams programme at cpimpact.org and id.cpimpact.org.
0 Comments