The UNICEF STARTUP Lab Accelerator Program welcomed 20 startups on 10th of January, 2023 under the ‘KOICA-UNICEF Accelerating Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Ghana Project.’ This initial key event in the Ghana-Korea Centre of Excellence for ICT-Based Start-Ups and Asian Research (GK-IMPACT) Project chain was organized by MEST Africa supported by UNICEF Ghana. The Lab is expected to host other start-ups from 2022- 2026 during which time it will be eventually hosted on the University of Ghana campus through the GK-IMPACT Project. The GK-IMPACT Project is coordinated by the Centre for Asian Studies(CAS), College of Humanities.
Out of the 20 start-ups selected after a rigorous nationwide application process, 7 of them were established by University of Ghana alumni who hold first and master’s degrees. These 7 start-ups operate in the real estate, financial, education, and career services sectors among others. This development chimes in with and underscores the vision of the Vice-Chancellor of UG, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, to create a culture at UG that promotes research, teaching and learning, administrative processes and extension activities driven by technology and anchored in humanism.
The GK-IMPACT Project agreement was signed on April 26, 2022, at the University of Ghana(UG) and provides Ghana’s premier university with a grant of US$9million from Korea through KOICA for the construction of a building that will offer both the software and hardware for Asian and ICT innovation and research. The partners for GK-IMPACT include KOICA, UNICEF and the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology(MEST). Hosting the UNICEF Lab by GK-IMPACT Project by 2026, will allow many emerging start-ups interested in solving Ghana’s and Africa’s contemporary social problems by leveraging ICT, to benefit and safeguard the long term sustainability of this initiative.
