The Lancaster University Ghana (LUG) Business Cup Challenge 2015 finals witnessed a thrilling conclusion as Wey Gey Hey 3 (Wesley Girls’ Senior High School) took home the winning trophy, a 50% scholarship to study at Lancaster University Ghana, a laptop, a router and a cash prize of GHC 7,000.
The challenge was a spectacular showcase of business acumen with ideas that were not just unique and out-of-the-box but also realistic. This competition presented these high school students with the opportunity to work as a team, represent their schools and make a pitch to a panel of judges and an audience of over 400 people.
SCI Business 2 (Soul Clinic International School) and Roman Ridge 2 (Roman Ridge School) also finished strong winning 1st and 2nd runner up titles respectively. SCI Business 2 took away a trophy, 30% scholarship to study at LUG, a laptop, a modem and cash prize of GHC 5,000. Roman Ridge 2 took away a trophy, 20% scholarship to study at LUG, a laptop, modem and cash prize of GHC 3,000.
All teams that made it to the top 10 received GHC 500 each from Quality Environmental Consultancy Company limited. Best Male and Female Presenter from Adisadel College and Wesley Girls’ High School respectively won a tablet each. The trophy for Best New School went to Tema Secondary School. All other participants received a 10% scholarship to Lancaster University Ghana.
“Imagine if trees gave off Wi-Fi signals. We would be planting so many trees and probably save the planet too. Too bad they (the trees) only produce the oxygen we breathe.” (Anon)
The teams were asked to prepare a presentation, imagining their group has been invited to address Parliament to put forward a plea to today’s generation of leaders from tomorrow’s leaders.
The Business Cup Challenge is an initiative by Lancaster University Ghana. It is a unique marketing plan competition designed to challenge high school students and launch them into the business world at a young age, while simultaneously developing new business ideas and gaining valuable knowledge. This inter-school competition brought together the finest students and business ideas from high schools throughout Ghana and Nigeria. Students were encouraged to review and implement real life business plans, analyse critical business scenarios and present their cases to an academic panel which was headed by Professor John Grainger (Provost of Lancaster University Ghana) during the preliminary stages.
The six-week competition began on 5th October, 2015 and ended on 14th, November 2014.
This year’s competition grew intense with over 120 teams from over 30 schools battling it out to the top. Teams were awarded scores according to the set criteria by the panel. Each team consisted of 4-5 students from the same school.
During the finals, all 10 teams were allocated a maximum of 20 minutes each to present a pitch they developed on their various products to an audience of over 300 students, parents and academics. The cases were presented to an academic and professional panel of judges which consisted of Prof. John Grainger (Provost, Lancaster University Ghana), Johan Claasen (Foundation Co-ordinator, Lancaster University Ghana), Dr. Suzanne Nti (Partner, Addison Bossman Consultants), Wendy Nelly Sarpong (Vehicle and Asset Finance Manager, Stanbic Bank Ghana) and May Kalmoni (Managing Director, Invest Plus Limited).
The competition was sponsored by Lancaster University Ghana, Transnational Education Africa, Stanbic Bank Ghana, Quality Environmental Consultancy Company Limited, The British Council, Coconut Grove Hotel, Compu Ghana Limited and Airtel Ghana Limited; and supported by Forbes Africa, CNBC Africa, Starr FM, Daily Graphic, YFM, Live FM, ETV Ghana, Ghana News Agency, Ghana Business and Finance and GTV as media partners.
Speaking at the event, Prof. John Grainger thanked all the partners and the participating teams for making the Business Cup Challenge 2015 a success. He described the programme as a challenge set by the university in terms of what is happening in the real world; to allow students research and make their presentation to the public at the grand finale.
He also said, Lancaster University Ghana believed that students of today must think deeper about the problems the world faced, adding that, he was impressed with some excellent presentations made by the teams.
In an interview with winning team, they expressed their gratitude to Lancaster University Ghana for this opportunity. The team leader added “It was a very challenging competition. We had to sacrifice a lot, had to work very hard as a team and we put so much into the final presentation. We are very grateful to God and our dedicated teachers for standing by us throughout the competition”.
