Junior Achievement Ghana organizes business idea pitching competition for SHS students

Junior Achievement (JA) Ghana at the weekend organized its maiden Company of the Year Competition for Senior High School Students in the Accra Metropolis.

The Ghana Company of the Year Competition is the premier pitch competition for senior high school entrepreneurs.

The competition brought together students from three high schools in Accra, namely; Labone Senior High School, Accra Academy and Alpha Beta Christian College, who have completed the JA Company Program.

The students pitched their companies to a panel of judges and answered questions posed by the judges. Their financials and annual reports were also reviewed by the judges.

The 2018 National Company of the Year Competition was won by Vermo Company Ltd from the Alpha Beta Christian College. Vermo specializes in providing a Virtual Reality experience for young people to deconstruct and simplify complex and abstract concepts that they learn in school through videos, video games and other mobile applications.

Vermo will represent Ghana at the JA Africa Regional Company of the year competition in December, 2018 where they will compete against other young people from 13 African countries where JA operates.

Mogul Industries from Alpa Beta Christian College and JACO from Accra Academy won the second and third place respectively. Ernskoff Africa from Accra Academy, went away with the Social Impact Award. The company embarked on a waste segregation exercise on the school’s campus to contribute to keeping the schools environment clean.

Speaking after the competition, the General Manager of Vermo, Nii Nortey Morton remarked “Of all the good things that have happened in our lives, the excitement of winning the Company of the Year Competition was unparalleled. The values that we have clung to – dedication, perseverance and hard work – is what has led us to victory. We appreciate the support of our coaches and our school”.

The Executive Director of Junior Achievement Ghana, Mr. Odjobi Kwakye stated in his closing remarks that “the world of work is changing fast and that the future of work is artificial intelligence, robotics, ICT, sciences, mathematics and engineering”. He further encouraged the youth particularly girls to develop interest and passion for careers in those fields.

The Company Program teaches young people how to be entrepreneurs by giving them the opportunity to start and run a business during the course of the academic year. Finalists from participating schools compete to demonstrate their business acumen, creativity and entrepreneurial thinking as they present the ideas, products and companies they have created. They are evaluated by an esteemed panel of judges.

The next phase (2018/2019) of the JA Company Program was also lunched at the end of the competition and will be financed by Delta Airlines.