Climate Launchpad, the biggest global green business ideas competition, has opened applications for the 2020 edition in Ghana. Climate Launchpad 2020, which will be run in Ghana and 55 other countries, gives the opportunity to aspiring entrepreneurs to share their ideas and solutions to climate change and through the competition get a shot at growing them. In Ghana, it is organized and executed by Ashesi University’s Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC).
To qualify to compete in Climate Launchpad 2020, an applicant should have an innovation in renewable energy, energy efficiency, food and agriculture, water, transportation and industrial technology. Click here to apply.
Shortlisted applicants then embark on a rigorous training journey which includes an intensive two-day boot camp and six coaching sessions. The module and structure of the boot camp and coaching session are designed not only to ensure ideas are fine-tuned for the National Finals but also serve as a ground for equipping the entrepreneur with basic knowledge for growing their business. The best two ideas in the Ghana national finals will compete in the Africa regional competition and then the global finals. At the global finals, the top-16 ideas are admitted to the Climate-KIC’s Accelerator, a programme focused at cleantech commercialization.
Last year, the Climate Launchpad competition in Ghana received over 50 applications into the competition, with 15 business ideas eventually selected to partake in the bootcamp and coaching sessions. Sabon Sake, who won the Ghana finals also made it to the top 15 in the global finals held in Amsterdam in November 2019.
Speaking on the opening of applications in Ghana for Climate Launchpad 2020, the Nation Lead for the competition in Ghana, Ahuma Cabutey Adodoadji, GCIC’s Marketing and Communications Director, said “The need to find innovative ideas and solutions to the global challenge of climate change is more pressing than ever before. We take the threat of climate change lightly at our own risk. Our weather patterns have changed and continue to change. The harmattan season has changed, rainfall patterns have changed, and this is an indication that climate change effects will impact strongly on livelihoods, food security, socio-economic lives and infrastructure. So, we can only be thankful to an organization like the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre and Climate Launchpad competition which are at the fore-front of encouraging the development of solutions that aid in the adaptation and mitigation of climate change”.
About ClimateLaunchpad
ClimateLaunchpad is the global green business ideas competition. Its mission is to address the negative impacts of climate change by ways of innovation, invention and entrepreneurship. A green future demands thousands of innovations challenging the current business models. The competition supports aspiring and promising cleantech entrepreneurs with training, coaching and networking opportunities. ClimateLaunchpad operates on a global scale, currently in over 55 countries.
ClimateLaunchpad was established in 2014 and is part of the Entrepreneurship offerings of EIT Climate-KIC.
About Ghana Climate Innovation Centre
Founded in 2016, GCIC is a pioneering business incubator with a unique focus of developing SME ventures and entrepreneurs in Ghana’s ‘Green Economy’. Our mission is to develop and support an exceptional set of transformational ventures and entrepreneurs who are pioneering adaptive and mitigating solutions for climate change issues in Ghana. We do this with a focus on five key economic sectors (energy efficiency & renewable energy; solar power; climate smart agriculture; domestic waste management; water management and purification), the provision of premium business advisory and business mentoring services, technical support in the development, prototyping and testing of their innovation, as well as financial Proof of Concept grants to qualifying SMEs within our incubator.
GCIC has so far incubated over 80 green businesses making great social, economic and environmental strides today. These businesses have together worked to avoid about 1,100 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, raised over $US1.79 million in early and growth stage financing, and raked in more than US$1.63 million in revenue.
GCIC is funded by a grant from the Governments of Denmark and the Netherlands through the World Bank and is managed by a consortium led by Ashesi University, and including Ernst and Young, SNV Ghana and the United Nations University. The Consortium offers the perfect mix of experience and excellence in private sector development, climate change, entrepreneurship, education and training, and research and development know-how.
