The students were selected from senior high, junior high, technical/vocational schools among others in the Ashanti, Western, Brong Ahafo and the Northern regions of Ghana.

YEL aims at extending its coverage to the rest of the country. The selection of talents began with the southern sector of the country and was done by the management/heads of the schools using three main criteria: students who are brilliant but needy, students that exhibited leadership potential and proactiveness.

Commenting on the rationale for the exercise, the Programmes Officer of The BEIGE Foundation, Ms Anne-Marie Blackmore, said: “The BEIGE Foundation through YEL, seeks to recognise and award exceptional youth talents.

“Again, this gesture is to train, support and promote youth excellence in the country. Our agenda is to identify and support one thousand (1000) students by the end of 2017” “It is our belief that persons who perform remarkably in academics or whose overall achievements are outstanding are worthy of celebration. It is for this reason that the project awards their excellence,” she said.

Among the schools from which the students were selected are: Prempeh College, St. Louis, Opoku Ware, Ghana-China Friendship School, Sekondi College, Takoradi Technical University, Techiman Senior High School, Bole Methodist Senior High School, Mpohor S.D.A Basic School, and St. Dominic R/C Basic School.

The YEL project is an initiative of The BEIGE Foundation and it seeks to recognise and honour exceptional youth talents, particularly in the areas of academia: basic, secondary and tertiary levels of education. At the launch of YEL last year, Mike Nyinaku, the Chief Executive Officer of The BEIGE Group, committed an amount of GHC 2 million to support YEL for the year 2017.

Beneficiaries, apart from receiving financial rewards, will be trained and honed as part of a skills development programme run by BEIGE Academy, the talent development arm of The BEIGE Group.