Recycle Up! Ghana (RUG) empowers young spirited Ghanaians to become changemakers in their society. Based on the success of our initiatives and the ever-increasing necessity for innovation we are determined to move one step further with our incubation program.
The Recycle Up! Ghana Incubation programme Cohort 3 commenced on January 18th 2022 with an introduction session. Entrepreneurs were equipped with first-hand information on the six-month incubation program. They were made aware of the structure and various modules which will be employed during the six-month incubation program , the handbook and contract for the entire program was also shared to the entrepreneurs.
On the 20th of January 2022 the entrepreneurs had a session on Goal Setting and OKRs (Objective Key Results). At the end of the session, the entrepreneurs were able to set SMART goals for their businesses and also develop OKRs, they were introduced to a template which will aid them with setting their OKRs and also properly defining their organisational vision and mission .
On the 21st of February entrepreneurs were trained to develop a hands-on approach toproblem solving with user-centricity and empathy. The design thinking session taught SMEs on collaboration, ideation, experimentation and iteration. The SMEs were psyched towards action centered activities instead of hypothesizing.
The Recycle Up! Ghana Incubator program contributes to the creation of a robust circular economy in Ghana where all resources are effectively used to maximize impact thereby avoiding waste. The incubation program is a 6-month program which employs several modules in equipping SMEs for the entrepreneurial landscape.
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We want to use this opportunity to personally thank you for your kind and wholehearted contribution once again. Your support allows us to create local solutions to the waste problem in Ghana and we would like to share with you what happened in our Incubator program during the last months.
The Recycle Up! Ghana startup weekend was a three day event, during which groups of young enthusiastic entrepreneurs, idea phase startups and budding innovative entrepreneurs went through structuring ,idea refinement, problem solution fit, and pitching of circular ideas. The opening of the application commenced on the 4th october 2021 and ended on the 3rd of november with a total application of 59. After scrutinization of the application, 33 participants were shortlisted.
Applicants reported on Thursday 4th november,2021 at 4:00pm at the hub of which 30 applicants were present. On Friday the 5th of November , the weekend commenced. Participants arrived at the premises at 6:45am by bus after they lodged in the previous night for early reporting . Breakfast was served and the program began. It was inaugurated by Mrs Angela Anane Frimpong, the business incubation manager. (Recycle up ! Ghana).
They were then ushered into the the training session which comprised of
After an intensive training, it was now time for the pitch deck.
Judges were set and the rules of the game were set for the participants to adhere to it. 13 business teams took part in the pitching. The top 3 businesses emerged atop and gained an automatic qualification to be part of the cohort 3 incubation program.
The first business was awarded with a seed fund of GH 2,000.00.
There was an official launch for the next Recycle Up! Ghana incubation programme with an application deadline of 24th November,2021, this will be an intense 6 month training session on business development for eco-friendly green businesses.
We want to use this opportunity to personally thank you for your kind and wholehearted contribution once again. Your support allows us to create local solutions to the waste problem in Ghana and we would like to share with you what happened in our Incubator program during the last months.
After an intensive six months of in-depth training, the second cohort of our Recycle Up! Incubator graduated with their Demo Day on July 24th. Seven green startups pitched their business ideas to an interested audience at our Hub in Fumesua-Kumasi and observers in our livestream online. If you missed the event, there is an opportunity to re-watch the recording on our Facebook page anytime.
Four of the graduating teams originated from our Startup Weekend last year: Vert Power, who are producing eco-friendly biodigesters that convert kitchen waste to cooking gas, Waste-Tek who use old refrigerators to make chicken incubators for poultry production and Ilymar Kreations that are using textile wastes to produce household door mats. Additional teams of our second cohort were AP Verde Farms who produce aquaponic systems for fish and crop production, Cocozu who recycle coconut husks into various products, Plastikus Recycle Agency for the collection and sorting of plastic bottles and Style & Glamour who produce biodegradable packaging solutions from recycled paper. All of these teams were commended for their hard work in advancing their businesses these past months.
Additionally, some incubatees were recognized for special achievements: Ilyich from Ilymar Kreations received awards for attendance and timeliness while Doreen from Style & Glamour won the award for best entrepreneur.
The teams' pitches were rated by our professional jury, with 3 teams winning extra cash prizes for outstanding performance: Vert Power won third place and received an award of GHS 2,000. Cocozu on place two secured a cash prize of GHS 3,000 and our overall winning startup on place one, Style & Glamour Enterprise, went home with a check over GHS 5,000. But the journey is not yet over for these entrepreneurs - all startup teams will continue to receive extensive coaching and support through our Alumni Network.
For the remainder of this year, we'll have another Startup Weekend to source innovative ideas in November and will also open the applications for our third cohort this autumn. For more regular updates and insights, also make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. For any questions, feel free to send us a message on our social media profiles or an email to incubator@recycleupghana.org anytime
All the best,
the team at Recycle Up! Ghana
Links:
Once again, many thanks for your kind and wholehearted contribution supporting us to create local solutions to the waste problem in Ghana. All of our activities would not be possible without you, which is why we would like to express our gratitude for your support once again and share with you what happened in our Incubator program these last months.
If you haven't done so already, also make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter for more regular updates and pictures. For any follow-up questions, feel free to send us a message on our social media profiles or an email to incubator@recycleupghana.org
We have a new Incubation Manager: Since January, our Incubator is led by Angela Anane-Frimpong. Welcome aboard! Building upon our experiences and success from last year, we also launched our second cohort. We're happy to coach 8 more promising startups that will present their ideas on Demo Day '21 end of July - stay tuned! You can find more information on our training sessions conducted in the first quarter of this year below:
On the 15th January 2021, the second cohort of our Incubator commenced with a virtual introductory session where the entrepreneurs were introduced to our program.
The second session was held in-person on the topic of Idea validation in February. During this training, the entrepreneurs were taken through the root cause analysis modules to better understand the problem they want to tackle with their businesses. After the problem identification, they were taken through the problem-solution fit module and assisted to define their potential customers and their needs by using the customer persona tool and the customer empathy map. The session ended with an introduction to design thinking.
On the 17th-18th of February 2021, the training session continued virtually. This session was on stakeholder analysis and the ideation stage of the design thinking process. During this session, the entrepreneurs were introduced to tools to help them identify and rank their potential stakeholders.
On the 19th of March 2021, the training sessions continued with an in-person training session. During the workshop, the entrepreneurs were taken through the design thinking approach of product development in a user-centered manner. Another virtual personal development masterclass on the 31st of March was held on the principles of social change with sixteen participants.
All startups of our second cohort will present their business ideas at our Demo Day '21 end of July. If you're interested in participating or watching our livestream, stay tuned! More information on the registration will follow soon.
All the best,
the team at Recycle Up! Ghana
Links:
Once again, many thanks for your kind and wholehearted contribution supporting us to create local solutions to the waste problem in Ghana. We are proud of our impact and thankful for you making it possible. Therefore, we would like to share with you the current status of our incubator program:
In November 2020 we organized a two-day Start-up weekend programme to bring together young people who have the motivation to start a business and facilitate them through an innovation process to develop a business idea. The Start-up weekend had 20 young entrepreneurs participating to develop 10 businesses that promote circular economy. At the Start-up Weekend, entrepreneurs were taken through introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Circular Economy and various innovation processes like problem framing, problem-solution fit, empathy mapping, value proposition canvas, Business Model canvas and pitching.
The ideas developed were; VERT POWER: Producing bio-digesters to convert kitchen waste to gas for cooking, VARA WUDIU: Converting dry grasses to animal feed, WASTER: Using old refrigerators to make chicken incubators for poultry production, ECOPLAST: Collection and segregation of wastes, MATSAMNA: Using organic wastes for compost making, AGRIVAL: Using coconut husks to produce Charcoal briquette, SUPREME BIO: Producing biogas from organic wastes, ILYMA KREATION: Using textile wastes to produce door mat, UPG: Wastes segregation and ORGAFIT: Uses of food waste to produce compost as an organic fertilizer to farmers which is of no harm to aquatic life in-case runoff happens.
The weekend was culminated by a pitching event which was opened to the general public to attend. There is no need to worry if you missed the event, a recording is available to watch on our Facebook page @recycleup. And if you’d like to receive updates more regularly, you can also find us on instagram @recycleupgh, twitter @RecycleUpGhana or LinkedIn.
Our next cohort begins soon stay tuned!
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