The Ghana Bioenterprise Innovations Partnership (GBIP) and the Ghana-Britain Partnership for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GB-PIE) of the Innovations for African Universities (IAU) have launched a manual to guide young start-ups through the process of regularising their businesses.
The guide, titled “A Stepwise Guide to the Registration of Businesses for Young Start-ups,” seeks to simplify a procedure that frequently proves to be an obstacle for small businesses.
The creation of the manual was one of the two (2) projects’ action points, which aimed to give young and aspiring entrepreneurs the knowledge and abilities they needed to turn their ideas into profitable businesses.
Speaking at the event, the Project Lead, Professor Desmond Omane Acheampong noted the manual is published at a time when graduates are being encouraged to launch their own enterprises because the demand for workers hasn’t increased across the board.
He added that most college students and recent graduates find the registration process to be strenuous and abandon their business ideas as a result.
“Therefore, this manual provides a step-by-step guide from the selection of the business name to the final inspection by a regulatory agency,” he stated.
The document was created by Medory Naturals, a start-up in Ghana that specializes in the creation, production, and marketing of natural health products made from indigenous plants.
Under a translator accelerator program, this start-up received technical support from GBIP and GB-PIE to formalize their firm, enhance packaging and branding, and market their products.
For her part, Dr. Ama Kyeraa Thomford, the head of Medory Naturals, claimed that the manual would be applicable to all new businesses because it was based on the actual experiences of Medory as they went through the procedures for business registration.
The publication of the manual coincided with the introduction of herbal teas from Medory Naturals to the university population. The two items on display during the event, Medory Blue Tea and Medory Flora Tea, were created using some of the region’s therapeutic herbs.
The products are intended to boost energy and reduce stress. They are designed for people of all ages, particularly those looking for healthy substitutes to the sugary and caffeinated drinks that are widely available on the Ghanaian market.
The event held at the Sam Jonah Library, University of Cape Coast was attended by the team members from the IAU project partners, faculty, students and teaching assistants from the University community. The IAU projects have the University of Cape Coast, University of Health and Allied Sciences, and the University of St Andrews, Scotland-UK as partners.
In attendance were Professor Desmond Omane Acheampong – Dean SAHS, UCC, Chair; Dr. Francis Ackah Armah – Senior Lecturer, Department of Biomedical Sciences; Dr. Ama Kyeraa Thomford – Senior Lecturer, Department of Biomedical Sciences; and Dr. Richael Odarkor Mills – Lecturer, Department of Biomedical Sciences.
The rest are; Dr. George Ghartey-Kwansah – Lecturer, Department of Biomedical Sciences; Dr. Kwame Kumi Asare – Research Fellow, University of Cape Coast; and Dr. Kwesi Prah Thomford – Lecturer, Department of Pharmacognosy and Herbal Medicine.
