…To Sponsor Best 3 To Intra-Africa Trade Fair In S’Africa.
By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
The Kwara State governrment is orgaising a trade competition known as ‘Kwara Pitch Competition,’ where three outstanding innovators would be picked and sponsored to participate in an Inter-Africa Trade Fair, scheduled to hold next month in South Africa.
The fair, scheduled hold between November 15th and 21st, 2021, is in compliance with the African Free Trade Zone, which offers prospective participants oportunity to meet with investors from all over the world and partners from the developed world.
To this effect, the Kwara State government has said that as part of its commitment to create enterprising environment and support people with innovative ideas, which can transform the economic fortune of the state for good, it is sponsoring the best three from the ‘Kwara Pitch Competition’ to South Africa for the continental trade fair.
The project, ‘Kwara Pitch Competition,’ is therefore put in place by the government through an open entry, from which a number would be shortlisted and at the end, the best three would emerge.
These best three are the ones to go to South Africa and their trip will be “wholly funded by the government of Kwara State,” according to the Senior Special Assistant, SSA, on Job Creation to the Kwara State governor, Aliyu Alhassan.
Alhassan, while addressing journalists on the program, said that the competition, to be designed by the government at the instance of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, was said to aim at a better economic fortune for the state and tagged ‘Kwara Pitch Competition.’
Calling on the people, especially youths, with innovative ideas to apply for the competition through the Kwara State government Facebook account,Alhassan pointed out that “the competition is open to young business owners, who will pitch their product, service, or prototype to a team of successful men and women from different industries.”
He noted that “winners of the competition would be having opportunities to get trainings, mentorship, and several other opportunities to scale their brand.”
Alhassan added that the bigger aim of the project was to scale up the economic fortune of Kwara and create abundant opportunities, saying, “We are hoping to scale up businesses that will in turn and create jobs and project our state on the map of innovations, enterprise, technology and development.
“These are part of the core goals of the Mallam AbdulRazaq-led administration.”
Giving further information on the application processes, Alhassan, said, “We have published an e-form that will allow intending participants to answer questions relating to their businesses. The electronics form inquires about the personality of the business, current investors, among others.”
He stated further that for the purpose of clarity of the business identity, “applications are required to upload a presentation of two minutes’ video, which is expected to answer four questions, such as; the product/service, the targeted problem to solve, the uniqueness and the team members behind it.”
The governor’s SSA, however, implored young people with innovative ideas to apply, reiterating that three best winners would be wholly funded by the state government to the Intra-Africa Trade Fair in South Africa.
