Team ChuChu Softies from Ashesi University, Ghana Champions of the 2023 Africa Business Concept Challenge

The GBSN Africa Business Concept Challenge returned for its third year with 307 students in 87 teams from 58 schools in 17 countries across Africa earlier this year in March and April. For 6 weeks, students have been incessantly innovating in the aim of identifying a locally-relevant community need or challenge and developing a solution, related to Agenda 2063, that would efficaciously impact their community while concurrently scoring high! It was through this perseverance and innovation from the student teams, coupled with the competition’s distinguished international panel of judges that the competition was able to crest the meriting concept proposals and elect the competition’s champion – Team ChuChu Softies from Ashesi University in Ghana!

Judges’ Panel

Rickie Moore – Professor of Entrepreneurship Director, MSc in Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
emlyon business school, France
‘Nireti Adebayo – MD/CEO, Whyte Cleon Limited, Nigeria
Peter Bamkole – Chief Operating Officer, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria
Anil Benard-Dende – MD/CEO, Ynov Campus, France
Roberta Blankson – Senior Program Officer (East and West Africa), International Centre for Evaluation and Development (ICED), Ghana
Nancy Murphy – Director, SWIFT Institute, USA
Joanne Mwangi-Yelbert, CEO, PMS Group Ltd, Kenya
Julienne Shields, President and CEO, United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), USA
Darius Teter – Executive Director, Stanford SEED, USA
Deanne De Vries, Africa Advisor, Author & Keynote Speaker, The Netherlands
Ihsan Zakri, Regional Head of Middle East and Africa, AACSB International, The Netherlands

After advancing through 4 strenuous phases that narrowed the competition from 5 Top Teams, to only 3, we are proud to recognize the participating scholars’ capacity to change our global community and prolifically presage the leaders of tomorrow. We spiritedly accede that the members of the Top 3 Teams – Team ChuChu Softies from Ashesi University in Ghana, Team FundMate from the Mediterranean School of Business in Tunisia, and Team M.I.A.S.C. from Makerere University in Uganda and UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Ireland – embody this attribute of great potential as global change agents, without hesitation. Both the second and third place teams deserve tremendous applause for their creativity, perseverance, and the overall realistic outlook of their products.

Please accompany us in congratulating the winners – Team ChuChu Softies from Ashesi University, Ghana – and the Top 3 Teams of the 2022 GBSN Africa Business Concept Challenge!