Five winners emerge from a Business Development Plan Competition

October 9, 2018

The five winners were part of the top 12 out of 24 students with the best business development plans or ideas who participated in a week-long training.

Five graduatesof the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) have been declared winners of an ‘entrepreneurship competition’ launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI).  

The five winners were part of the top 12 out of 24 students with the best business development plans or ideas who participated in a week-long training.

They are; Mawoe Flomo of the NEYALLAH HOUSE KEEPING SERVICES; Dickerson G. Harmon, of the JERD AUTO WASH INCORPORATED; Abel Varney of the Liberia Small Scale Food Processing Group Inc.; Michelle Blackie of Agro-Electric and Cythnia Korfeh of VIRTUOUS Building And Construction Inc.

The winners were certificated by UNDP Country Director a lamin Beyai during the 2018 Graduation ceremony of the Booker Washington Institute (BWI), held on the campus in Kakata, Margibi County.

Over forty graduating senior students and recent graduates of the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) were selected from a competitive business development plan competition launched by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the school’s administration with support from UNDP under its BOSS Project.

Since the launch of the competition, at least 24 business idea applications were received and evaluated out of which, the top 12 groups with the best business ideas were selected for a week-long training held in August this year. Five students represented each of the 12 selected groups.

The week-long business development plan training was facilitated by Jefferson Karr of the Vision Group Liberia Limited/Vision University College.

He practically coached the students in developing successful business plans. The students were enthusiastic about the practical way the training was conducted. They submitted full business development plans and have been vetted by an independent panel.

With the training now a thing of the past, as well as the vetting process concluded, the selected five (5) winners are expected to receive seed funding to start their businesses.

The Entrepreneurship Competition is a pilot project under the Business Opportunities Support Services Project (BOSS) of UNDP Liberia, as a follow up activity to the Business development plan competition launched in May this year for students of BWI.