A physically challenged entrepreneur, Mary Tetteh, and four other innovators have been crowned the Young Innovators of the Year at the grand finale of the Springboard Roadshow 2025, under the Ghana Grows Programme.
Ms Tetteh, who is also the founder of Bethmay Enterprise, won the Most Promising Agripreneur/YLO Model Ambassador Award for inspiring others with her journey from Tom Brown to nutritious mushroom food products. Kow Aboagye-Gunney, a Biology and Integrated Science teacher at West Africa Senior High School, received the award in the Agriculture Category, transforming school farms into innovation labs.
Clara Messe, an entrepreneur and owner of Beehive Bakeshop and Café, Anloga Junction Restaurant, won the Agribusiness Category for building a culinary empire and employing others.
David Wakpal, a 31-year-old agripreneur, won the ATVET Category for revolutionising poultry production with locally made incubators, while Justine Mauda Aniaku, founder of JustMaud and a professional educator with 18 years of experience, received the Best Youth-Led Organisation (YLO) Facilitator Award for her skill in empowering other women.
Prizes
Each of them received a brand-new laptop, a memento, and a cheque for GH¢5,000 as their prize at the awards ceremony last Saturday.
Edward Aikins received a special award for his contributions to the foundation for 19 years. He took home a citation and a cheque for GH¢19,000.
Background
The awards, instituted by the Springboard Foundation in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, aim to celebrate, recognise, and promote the efforts of young innovators in Agribusiness and Agriculture Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) sectors with a keen focus on young women and persons with disability.
The Springboard Roadshow 2025 toured all 16 regions of Ghana and discovered over 500,000 young people, exposing them to opportunities in agricultural value chains, innovation, digital tools, vocational skills, and business development.
The event, supported by Absa Bank, was also attended by young people, industry leaders, traditional leaders, industry stakeholders, and business leaders who would inspire and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators.
Engineer
The Executive Director of the Springboard Foundation, Comfort Ocran, said the initiative was not just a youth programme; it was “a national movement designed to re-engineer the mindset of the Ghanaian youth.”
She said the role of the Ghana Grows programme was designed to shape resilient young entrepreneurs capable of driving national transformation through agriculture, technical skills, and enterprise development.
Mrs Ocran congratulated the winners of the YLO awards, describing them as proof that the country’s next generation was ready to provide solutions that could scale globally.
She urged young people across the country to embrace discipline, courage, and relentless commitment in pursuing their ideas, saying “the future of Ghana’s development lies in the hands of bold, innovative youth who choose to start from where they are”.
The Springboard Foundation Executive Director thanked the Mastercard Foundation and other partners for believing in the potential of the youth, adding that the foundation was committed to ensuring that every participant emerged with practical knowledge that could be applied immediately.
The Head of Youth Banking at Absa Bank, Crystabel Vorgbe, reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to empowering young people with the financial knowledge and products they need to build a sustainable future.
She commended the organisers and partners for investing and empowering young people, saying, “The actions taken today will shape the opportunities and progress of young people in the future”.
Ms Vorgbe explained that many young entrepreneurs struggle because they mix personal funds with business funds, adding that Absa is ready to guide them in separating business finances from personal ones and to support young people to start and grow their businesses.
Appreciation
Ms Tetteh thanked the Springboard Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, and partners for identifying her potential and giving her the chance to succeed.
