Sports For Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
HOPin Academy is an entrepreneurship ecosystem support organization in Northern Ghana, that provides pragmatic and innovative approaches towards exploring the various fields of entrepreneurship with the aid of technology. We are excited to embark on the project named SEED (Sports for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development) in partnership with FANT (Football For A New Tomorrow). FANT is a humanitarian organization in Denmark established on a notion that sports can break barriers and create relations between people, despite societal status, cultural differences, different ethnicities, gender, and religion. FANT does this by
- Creating healthy communities for kids and young people
- Educating kids and young people in democratic thinking and produce role models in local communities.
- Improving women’s opportunities to participate equally in the democratic society among others.
Interest in sports and innovation among young people in Africa is great. But before the interest can evolve to employment and jobs, the circumstances for innovation and entrepreneurship have to improve. The SEED project will mobilize 300 young entrepreneurs in a network.
Even though Ghana has been a pioneer in Africa for the last years, there are still serious problems with unemployment among young people. There is a need for strong networks, events, and seminars, and sport is a great tool for this. The core significance of this project is to strengthen the network of young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana for them to help each other and form a network that will not only benefit the 300 starting members but all future entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana. The network also seeks to work at a political level when advocating for better conditions for doing entrepreneurship in Northern Ghana and also make significant structural changes, that should benefit far more individuals than just the 300 members of the network. The network will engage at different levels and with different stakeholders; including political duty bearers, financial institutions, private companies, education institutions and so. The project begins in April 2020, and we are excited to create development and better opportunities for young entrepreneurs through the power of sport!