By: Frank Owusu-Ofori
Out of the over thirty business models which were submitted, adventure organization, BraveHearts Expeditions, shredded off stiff competition to emerge winners of the Ghana StartUp Cup.
BraveHearts, beat six other startUp companies in the final round to take home GH¢ 2,000 as well as tickets to the World StartUp Cup in Yerevan, Armenia, where they stand the chance of winning the grand price of 30,000 dollars.
Onecedi.com, Guardian Angels, Genesis Financial Services, Visser Farms, Mansuki Ghana Ltd and Mobilicious, all took home consolation prizes for their efforts.
Speaking in an interview with The Biz portal, the Expedition Leader of BraveHearts Expeditions, Dziedzorm Segbefia, expressed his excitement about the award
He said the main reason for competing in the Ghana StartUp cup was to represent Africa at the Global Competition.
“We’re confident that our business model is the winning model, and we will invade the global competition with a no-nonsense bias for African excellence. We will bring the first Global cup to Ghana,” he emphatically stated.
Throwing more light on his company, Dziedzorm Segbefia said BraveHearts Expedition is the first startup in Ghana to pursue a green economy “where growth in entrepreneurial revenue is driven by business activities that reduce environmental degradation and pollution as well as preventing the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
“Working in teams, we develop strong relationships and active processes with our clients, which cultivates a culture of change in Africa and creates a profitable, sustainable business that provides economic opportunity for young people,” he noted.
He also described his company as an African adventure firm that runs camping, hiking, mountaineering, paragliding, cross-country safari and wilderness experiential learning expeditions for individuals and groups of all ages and nationalities in Ghana.
The Chairman of the Ghana StartUp Cup, Emmanuel Nyame, said the way startups are being built is rapidly changing.
“Historically, entrepreneurs had the luxury of time and were expected to produce a well-written business plan that included detailed financials, graphs, and future projections showcasing a path to starting and growing a new company, with the main purpose of raising money.”
He said today’s entrepreneurs are rewarded for going to market, securing customers, and generating revenue as quickly as possible.
“The goal for an entrepreneur with a new business concept is to identify a business model, test their assumptions, secure customers, and evolve their model as they grow market share,” he added.
Startup Cup is a locally driven business model competition open to any idea. This innovative community-based approach is designed to increase the quality and quantity of entrepreneurs in the community. The fundamentals of this program was developed in Silicon Valley during the dot com era and transplanted to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2007, by visual thinking pioneer and serial entrepreneur Sean Griffin, with the launch of a program called the Tulsa Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. Since that time every aspect of the competition has been fine-tuned based upon feedback from participating entrepreneurs, judges, coaches, entrepreneurial service providers, and community leaders.
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