Ghanaian named finalists in Entrepreneur Awards

Mr Alloysius Attah, a young Ghanaian entrepreneur, has been named among seven finalists for 2014 Unilever Sustainable Living Young Entrepreneurs Awards.

The finalists were selected from 816 entries received from 88 countries on the Ashoka Changemakers platform.

A statement issued in Accra by Gabriel Opoku-Asare, Head of Corporate Affairs, Unilever Ghana Limited said a panel would choose an overall winner.

The winner would be awarded with HRH the Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize at a prestigious dinner at the Guildhall on 27 January 2015.

The international awards programme is delivered by Unilever in partnership with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

It said the awards rewards inspirational entrepreneurs 30 years and below, who have developed a product, service or application that helps make sustainable living commonplace.

The statement said the winner would receive funding support of €50,000 and the remaining six finalists €10,000.

“They will also participate in a 12- month mentoring programme which aims to harness the diverse expertise, scale and influence of Unilever and CISL to support finalists to scale their business’ revenue and impact and hone their entrepreneurial skills, “it added.

Mr Paul Polman, Unilever Chief Executive Officer, said the company created the awards for young people because they would be the guardians of sustainable development long into the future.

He expressed delight that the awards in its second year had attracted 60 per cent more entries than in the inaugural year.

He said it was a strong signal that young entrepreneurs were really welcoming access to the right support to help them lead the development of entrepreneurial responses to a changing world.

Since Alloysius, launched Farmerline alongside his co-founder Emmanuel Owusu Addai in March 2013, more than 4000 farmers have accessed information which had resulted in increased productivity, elevated income and improved standards of living.

Farmerline’s technology links farmers to markets, weather information, new farming techniques, finance, inputs and equipment services to increase their productivity and income.

The platform provides information using not just text messages, but voice too, which opens up the service to the large number of smallholder farmers in Ghana who are illiterate.

Farmerline’s latest impact assessment indicates that farmers that have used its services for an entire season increased their income by 55.6 per cent per acre.