Relu Interactives wins 2023 Presidential Pitch
By Selorm GBORBIDZI, Accra
Information Technology (IT) startup, Relu Interactives, has won the 2023 edition of the Presidential Pitch.
The startup, which provides Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology solutions to bridge the education gap for students, especially in the engineering and IT fields, was thus awarded GH₵150, 000 as the first place price.
It also received GH₵50,000 as a personal donation from the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is the Grand Patron of the competition.
It beat off stiff competition from nine other startups which made it to the final phase of the competition.
Food startup, Fetuli Foods, and Green Energy startup, Bidigreen Ghana Limited, came second and third, respectively.
Fetuli Foods received GH₵130,000 as it’s prize, while Bidigreen Ghana Limited received some GH₵120,000.
The President, in his address, indicated the government’s recognition of youth entrepreneurship as the surest way to tackle the huge unemployment challenge facing the country.
He assured that the administration will continue in its efforts to fashion a supportive environment for entrepreneurship and enterprise development.
“The award packages for this year’s competition have been increased to reflect the upward increment of the cost of goods and services,” the President said.
As part of their package of awards, President Akufo-Addo stated that “the other line winners will receive between GH₵70,000 and GH₵130,000 each and they [just like the overall winner] will also be attached to hubs in their respective regions for continues monitoring and support.”
Furthermore, he gave indication that for the first time, “eleventh to thirtieth placed contestants will all receive between GH₵30,000 and GH₵50,000. All these cash prices are grants and not loans.”
This he stated was a tangible demonstration of government’s commitment to building an ecosystem that fosters opportunity and innovation-driven youth entrepreneurship.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, indicated that the NEIP is on a mission to turn Ghana into an entrepreneurial nation.
He said, “through the presidential pitch, we are highlighting the future of possibilities with the concept of unicorn entrepreneurs.”
He continued, “we are envisioning a future, favourably within a decade where successful businesses from pitch could be worth over a billion Ghana Cedis. That is if we are to localize the term ‘unicorn’.”
“This is our own unique way of creating our own Jack Mas, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and multiplying our Osei Kwame Despites, and Jospongs, to name a few,” the NEIP boss said.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr John Kumah, in an address delivered on behalf of the sector Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, urged the President to consider setting a day aside to specially celebrate the country’s entrepreneurs.
Co-Founder of Relu Interactives, Caleb Edem Mantey, described the occasion as “a dream come through.”
He described how he had faced rejection since embarking on this startup journey five years ago.
He however stated that these setbacks did not deter him from pushing forward to see his ideas become a reality.
