According to him entrepreneur­ship was a vital component of economic growth and development which had been embraced globally as an important driver of econom­ic transformation.

“I believe firmly that the fastest way to deal with the challenges confronting our economy and the unacceptable rate of unemploy­ment is the fusion of technology, entrepreneurship and business,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo made the call at the fourth season of the Presidential Pitch held in Accra on Friday.

This year’s event was on the theme: “Building a sustainable entrepreneurial nation; the role of our future Unicorns”.

Jennifer Kwakwa Sarpong, Bi­digreen Ghana Limited, Ike Agyei Mensah, Deafcantalk, Bismark Etornam Mensah, Fetuli, Aphraim Bukari Adombila, Hatiah Organ­ics Africa, Kwabena Tuffour and Prosect Feed Limited were part of the 10 finalists.

The rest were Adriana Appiagyei Nsiah Nimo, Reecoplast, Kwaku Ansu Aforo, Recco Solutions, Dan­iel Amaza Philips, Scibble Works, Georgina Odom, Useful Waste Limited and Caleb Edem Martey, Relu Interactions.

President Akufo-Addo said recognising youth entrepreneur­ship was the appropriate tool to addressing youth unemployment challenges of our time.

He said 702 direct jobs and thou­sands of indirect jobs had been created by the past winners of season one, two and three with ma­jority being created in rural areas.

“I want to single out the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Piz­zaman Chicken, Christian Boakye Yiadom, the tenth place winner from season two for his success thus far,” he stressed.

President Akufo-Addo explained that the National Entrepreneur­ship Programme in 2017 was established with a seed fund of $10million and the NEIP as a special purpose vehicle continued to champion the agenda of job creation, innovation and business development in the country’s entre­preneurial ecosystem.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Mr Kofi Owusu Nkansah, said through the Presidential Pitch they were highlighting a future of possibili­ties with the concept of ‘Unicorn Entrepreneurs’.

“We are envisioning a future, preferably within a decade, where successful businesses from this Presidential Pitch could be worth over a billion Ghana cedis, if we are to localise the term unicorn,” he stated.

“Already, we are seeing emer­gent stars from this Presidential Pitch events shining brightly. We are proud to point out that Piz­zaman-Chickenman is our grad­uate from the 2018 Pitch Event. Today, the owner, the 27-year-old Christian Boakye Yiadom, runs the largest chain of restaurants in Ghana, with about 33 outlets and is competing well with global brands such as KFC, Burger King and oth­ers,” he added.

“We have trained 24,000 youth in our Youth in Innovative Agricul­ture Support Project under the GhanaCARES ‘Obaatanpa’ Pro­gramme. We have disbursed grants to 1000 beneficiaries so far. In addition, we are onboarding young farmers under the Economic En­clave Project of the Ghana CARES Programme,”he added.

This year’s Presidential Pitch he said attracted applications from various sectors including Fintech and Technology, Manufacturing and Processing, Food and Bever­age, Agribusiness and Tourism and Creative Sector.

Government earmarked GH¢2. 5million for this year’s pitch and the overall winner would receive GH¢150,000 as prize money from the previous GH¢100,000.

In addition, the President offered the overall winner a personal mon­ey of GH¢50,000, an increase from the GH¢25,000 of the previous year’s.