Fifty young entrepreneurs and startups from across the country have been honoured at the 2020 edition of the annual Young Entrepreneur Awards (YEA), a prestigious scheme that recognises and celebrate exceptional job creators below age 40 in Ghana.

The Young Entrepreneur Awards is organised by the Youth Business Network Foundation in collaboration with Ghana Startup Network, Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, with support from Ministry of Business Development and National Entrepreneurship and Innovations Program (NEIP), the YE! Community, among others.

This year’s edition, themed; “Celebrating job creators in the midst of the pandemic”, saw key industry players and institutions duly represented – Ministry of Business Development, National Entrepreneurship and Innovations Program (NEIP), National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Ghana Investment and Promotions Council (GIPC), Registrar Generals Department, among others.

Speaking at the event, the Chairperson, Madam Barbara Wutor, Head of Legal Services at Ghana Standards Authority, lauded all the nominees and encouraged them to strive to sustain their businesses even in these hard times of COVID-19.

Head of Business Development at NEIP, Franklin Owusu-Karikari, who represented the Minister for Business Development, also lauded all the 50 young entrepreneurs, and assured them of the Ministry and NEIP’s commitment to support their businesses with any help available.

The head of the organising team, Solomon Adjei, Founder of Ghana Startup Network, enumerated the various challenges startups and young entrepreneurs goes through, thereby emphasizing on the need to celebrate the few who are able to stand the test of time, in a bid to motivate other youth to rise up to the challenge of being job creators instead of habitual job seekers.

As part of the package of celebrating these upcoming business moguls, Certificate of Recognition were presented to all the 50 nominees. 5 incubation hub operators were presented with Certificate of Honours for their exceptional roles in supporting the startup ecosystem in Ghana – Prince Bonney of iCode in Takoradi, Josiah Eyison of iSpace in Accra, MacCarthy M. Mac-Gbathy of HopIn Academy in Tamale, Joge Appiah of Kumasi Hive and Daniel Nang of Dansyn ISO in Bolgatanga.

YEA 2020 also honored the CEO of NEIP, Dr. John Ampontuah Kumah and Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Aryeh, Executive Director of NBSSI, for their exceptional leadership that has seen the surge in youth entrepreneurship over some few years.

Below are the rest of the award recipients for the night, and their respective categories:

• Emmanuel Ekow Arthur, Ekow Creations Art - Male Startup Entrepreneur of the Year

• Gloria Degbor, Senam Foods Limited, - Female Startup of the Year

• Patience Kamasah, Pat-Kamasah Farms, - Agricbusiness Entrepreneur of the Year

• Yakubu Lantem Abdul-Jabar, Coldsis, - Service Provider Entrepreneur of the Year

• Emmanuel Gyasi. eG Collection, - Fashion and Creativity Entrepreneur of the Year

• Victoria Naa Shika Quaye, - Naaviq Company Ltd, Female Entrepreneur of the Year

• Patrick Mensah Nartey, - PMN Company Ltd, Male Entrepreneur of the Year

• Enock Nana Yaw Oduro (Trigmatic), - Kent/Bweird, Celebrity Entrepreneur of the Year

• Richard Nii Armah Quaye, - Quick Angels, - Startup Support Personality of the Year