GNVC Launches National Business Plan Competition

Ghana New Ventures Competition (GNVC) Launches 3rd National Business Plan Competition and Unveils the First Entrepreneurship Web Portal in Ghana

Accra, Ghana ? Monday, 23 February, 2004 ? Ghana New Ventures Competition (GNVC) will launch its 3rd National Business Plan Competition at BusyInternet on Saturday, 28 February, 2004, from 12 Noon to 3 PM.

Minister Kwamena Bartels (Private Sector Development) will be the Keynote Speaker, and Kwaku Sintim-Misa (KSM) will be the Launch Chairman. In addition, GNVC will launch its online Distance Learning Center (www.ghananewventures.com), a means for Ghanaian entrepreneurs to access training content and business planning skills through the Internet, regardless of a person?s location. The GNVC Online Distance Learning Center will be a part of the First Entrepreneurship Web Portal in Ghana.

GNVC is an international not-for-profit organization incorporated in Ghana and the US. The organization was founded by a group of Ghanaian students in the USA who were involved with the leadership of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology?s (MIT) $50,000 Entrepreneurship Competition in Boston, MA. Since its inception, the aim of GNVC has been to lay the networking and educational infrastructure necessary for entrepreneurs to pursue their goals, learning the skills to start businesses that will benefit Ghana?s people and economy.

GNVC meets these objectives by organizing annual business plan competitions centered on training aspiring entrepreneurs to produce effective business plans, empowering them through mentors and role models in the Ghanaian business community, and enabling them to establish their own companies. GNVC also provides the most promising teams of entrepreneurs with start-up grants totaling thousands of dollars.

In over two years of operations, GNVC has catalyzed the formation of three new ventures in Ghana ? Strategic Accounting Solutions (SAS), Afroduct, and Peco Training Center ? each of which received $1,000 in start-up grants. In addition to these new ventures, GNVC has trained over 100 entrepreneurs in how to write effective business plans, involved over 60 of Ghana?s most prominent business leaders, and secured the patronage of the Minister of Private Sector Development, the Minister of Economic Planning, and the Minister of Manpower Development & Employment.

GNVC will also be launching its online Distance Learning Center: the First Entrepreneurship Web Portal in Ghana. Due to widespread popular demand, GNVC will soon be providing Ghanaian entrepreneurs throughout Ghana and the world with access to entrepreneurship training and business skills content through the Internet.

For information: http://www.gnvc.org
Or contact: cohen@gnvc.org
Phone: 024-975-352 or 021-258-795