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The French Embassy in Ghana in collaboration with Creation Africa Ghana has awarded 15 young Ghanaian entrepreneurs and businesses in the culture and creative arts industry with cash sums.
The 15 winners received cash amount of up to €30,000 from €300,000 grant pool for its pioneering incubation programme dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs in Ghana’s cultural and creative industries to expand their businesses and promote arts and culture.
The winners were announced and rewarded at the residence of the French Ambassador, Jules-Armand Aniambossou in Accra last Thursday. The winning businesses were, “Wonderspaced, SPiiKA, Art Novo, Fish & Plankton, Threaded Tribes, Moongirls Live, The Revival,”.
Other were, “Jambo Spaces, Kayadua Studio, Bonobo Concepts, Ghana Food Movement, Ria Boss Open Mic, Akese Homeware, Grey Area Studios, OBL Studios”.
In an interview the Project Manager at Creation Africa Ghana, Marion Astier, said the award followed a rigorous selection process, resulting in the enrollment of 30 out of 608 initial applicants in a boot camp, carefully curated to provide networking opportunities and training in key areas relevant for business growth and success.
She noted that “under the guidance of industry experts, 30 finalists followed sessions on funding and business fundamentals, branding and marketing, intellectual property and law as well as sustainability and ethics”.
This phase, she indicated culminated with pitch sessions to a selection committee comprising industry leaders and visionaries in the Ghanaian and French cultural and creative industries where the 15 top-performing finalists were selected to benefit from grants to support their creative ventures.
Ms Astier added that the winners will undergo intensive mentorship sessions with industry stakeholders whose expertise and skills align with their respective projects, ensuring a deep understanding of their unique challenges and opportunities to complement this financial support.
The Founder of Wonderspaced, an educational content creation and publishing company, Natalie Fordwor, expressed excitement after winning €30,000 euros.
“I'm thrilled about winning the €30,000. We are looking at expanding our learning capacity, expanding our learning resources, our edtech platform, and just promoting creativity in children in Ghana and around Africa,” she said.
She urged young Ghanaian entrepreneurs to apply for such opportunities when it comes their way to help expand their businesses. Founder of The Revival Earth Organisation, David Yayra Agbofah, who also won €20,000 said the reward is a great encouragement to their business as his team is doing the most to change the narrative with their arts
He added that the fund would be used to “set up new training programmes for people who want to know about upcycling, who want to learn about upcycling as a skill, and also set up additional studios and workspaces.”
