Leading African telecommunications company, Telecel Group, has said it will remain committed to supporting early-stage Ghanaian tech startups across sectors including FinTech, InsureTech, AgriTech, E-commerce, HealthTech, and CleanTech.
Speaking at the Cohort II event of the company’s Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP) held in Accra over the weekend for Ghanaian startups, the Executive Deputy of Telecel Group and ASIP Director, Eleanor Azar, disclosed that Telecel Group will support the scaling and development of the selected Ghanaian startups and provide them access to Africa markets.
She believes with the right support, Ghanaian startups can find innovative solutions to several local challenges because they understand the context better.
“Driven by Telecel Group values and the commitment that all our entities will do better in thriving environments and communities, Telecel Group is developing social enterprises with a digital focus to create jobs, wealth and solve challenges in various communities,” said the ASIP Director.
Representing the Minister of Communications at the event were the CEO of the Accra Digital Centre, Kojo Baah-Agyemang, and the Head of Programmes, David Ofori. David Ofori noted that one of the best ways government’s Digital Inclusion Agenda could be achieved was for startups and digital entrepreneurs to be supported with the requisite industry skillset that Telecel Group brings so they can compete regionally and on the global market.
He welcomed Telecel support to Ghanaian startups through ASIP and encouraged them to expand to support more social enterprises and help the government’s digital inclusion agenda.
Representing Stanbic Bank as a partner, the Head of Engineering, Eric Nsarkoh, described ASIP as a novel platform.
“I believe the ASIP event is really a novel platform as it cuts through Africa and has the potential to provide a regional market for startups,” he said.
The National Project Coordinator, NTFV, ITC at the United Nations, Isaac Newton Acquah, applauded Telecel Group for introducing ASIP to Ghana and was impressed by list of seasoned mentors.
“Providing mentors who have been there and done it is very important to startups, they can avoid a lot of the early mistakes and focus on building the right business models and solutions” he explained.
Commenting on the quality of entries and competence of some of the startup founders during the engaging sessions, the CEO and Co-founder of Startupboothcamp, Afritech, Philip Kiracofe, said the innovative solutions put forward by young Ghanaian minds were impressive.
“The quality of the entries from young Ghanaian businesses is really impressive. They are dedicated and committed to develop their ideas to the next level,” he said.
Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP) is a Telecel Group social investment Accelerator Program powered by Startupbootcamp Afritech to develop and scale the next generation of tech businesses and entrepreneurs for the African continent.
Targeting Tech startups with an emphasis on the African market, ASIP aims to help its target beneficiaries redefine their business models and scale up with suitable investment and guidance.
