At the maiden Pitch Nigh event, a Student from the Milton Margai Technical University on Wednesday 26th October 2022 won the 1st position from the first-ever Pitch Night event held by the university at the Great Hall, Goderich Campus.Lahinatu Mansaray, who won the grand prize of 30,000 New Leones with her business name “Business for All”, pitched an idea to solve the problem of a safe and secured online trading platform.
According to her, the process of production has become cumbersome because people want to make profit at every step taken. These include third parties who tend to realise more profit than the actual retailers.
The business, she said, is focused on building a legal market connection between the retailers and the wholesalers, devoid of swindling.
The event largely hinged on key pillars of funding, business visibility, brand recognition and networking. The Pitch Night was not just a one-off event, but it also looked towards creating an ecosystem where local start-ups can network and connect with investors and industry/ business leaders.
Speaking at the event, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Milton Margai Technical University, Professor Philip John Kanu (Ph.D) thanked the sponsor and partners for organizing such an event.
He noted that the event was greatly needed because students were encouraged to develop impactful business ideas/ models to address the emerging issues our society is being confronted with, adding that; the focus of education is not just to acquire knowledge but how one can translate that knowledge into solving problems.
He expressed his profound gratitude to the female student from the university who won the first prize, and encouraged other students to pay key attention to entrepreneurship because that is the main concentration of a Technical University, concluded.
The process of selection of participants for the Pitch Night was impartial, with the involvement of business experts within and outside of Sierra Leone.
All applicants for the event went through a boot camp for scrutiny so they could develop a better pitch. Nine Potchers made it to the night out of more than thirty applicants. The second price was won by Emmanuel Kamanda, a student from the Fourah Bay College with a Business Name, “Easy STEM”, who pitched about World-Class Library on one offline device, and the third prize was won by Aminata B.K Suma, a student from Limkokwing University with a business name; “Instant Cassava Fufu Flour”.
The event was sponsored by World Bank in partnership with GoSL, SLEDP and SMEDA.
