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Community and Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (CEDI) Ghana hosted the summit and final pitch competition of its inaugural cohort of EJobs4All in Accra from September 24-29, 2023.

The Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre partnered with CEDI Ghana in 2022 to launch a new program to address youth unemployment by scaling access to entrepreneurship training in Ghana.

EJobs4All is an eight-month, milestone-based entrepreneurship training program that leverages Queen’s University entrepreneurship curriculum to support 1000 Ghanaian youth in starting their own businesses annually. The youth receive coaching and mentorship, access to a vast network of innovators, and the opportunity to compete for seed funding for their venture.

The summit invited hundreds of local youth to gather at JACCD Design Institute Africa for hands-on workshops and dialogues on opportunities for economic growth in Ghana. High-level government officials, CEOs and business owners, scholars, foreign diplomats, and corporate sponsors were all invited to participate in the dialogue.

The DDQIC team delivered a train-the-trainer workshop for leaders of local innovation centres and a design thinking workshop for founders of emerging ventures. DDQIC sponsored and adjudicated the final pitch competition which awarded more than CAD $2,500 to 5 startups.