10 Entrepreneurs receive up to $17,000 grant
10 Selected social entrepreneurs in the country are set to receive grant funding of up to $17,000 to help them enhance their operations.
They are also to benefit from business skills development, networking and media exposure under the Scaling Readiness Programme, an initiative of the Reach for Change and Jacobs Foundation.
The programme seeks to strengthen their research capabilities and will be an opportunity to become a part of the Jacobs network, where researchers, entrepreneurs, school leaders, and change-makers collaborate to create impactful education solutions.
The partners of the programme will also ensure the high quality of the coaching and mentoring provided by world class experts and funders.
Innovative ways
In a press statement on July 6 to announce the 10 beneficiaries, the Country Manager of Reach for Change, an NGO in Ghana, Solomon Twum, said social entrepreneurs needed to develop innovative ways to advance the reading skills of children and young people.
This, he said, will provide different types of digital learning platforms to advance the development of relevant skills and inspire a transformational educational experience.
He added that the selected finalists will be enrolled in a customized support to strengthen their innovative solutions in order to improve educational outcomes for children and youth in Ghana.
“We strongly believe that the potential of local social entrepreneurs being catalysts for solving some of our most pressing issues including educational challenges, is limitless.
“If we want to make sure that the best solutions thrive, it's important for us to build bridges and work in partnerships.
“That is why today we are honored and excited to celebrate the finalists of the Scaling Readiness programme together with our partner - the Jacobs Foundation, and be one step closer to our overall objective - the development of a range of evidence-based educational solutions with a sustainably measured social impact,” he said.
The programme
According to the statement, the objective of the programme is to identify and support Ghana’s entrepreneurs – the best individuals and organisations with potential and working solutions to make a strong positive impact on the lives of children and youth.
The selection process gave a deep overview of the ed-tech ecosystem and also of the challenges faced by the country’s educational system.
The solutions provided by the ten finalists are concentrated on improving reading skills of children and young people as well as on creating different types of digital learning platforms to advance the development of relevant skills and inspire a transformational educational experience.
Quite a few applications also promoted STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education and equal access for learning materials to children from different backgrounds and regions, underlining the importance of the holistic approach.
Diversity of EdTech
The Programme Manager at the Jacobs Foundation, Cathrin Jerie, stated that the foundation was delighted to see the diversity of EdTech solutions tackling the challenges of Ghana’s educational system.
“We are convinced that the Scaling Readiness programme with our partner - Reach for Change - will support the entrepreneurs to improve their products and reach even more children so that they can learn and thrive together.”