AN INITIATIVE FROM ACADEMIA TO CONNECT
ROBUST ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S. & GHANA FOR LASTING RELATIONSHIPS AND GENERATIVE DEAL FLOW
UPCOMING PURSUITS
GHANA GLOBAL will extend invitations to directors of incubators and accelerators, startup founders, and academics from the U.S. and Ghana to co-organize or attend annual virtual gatherings. This site will serve as an access point for such events while showcasing research and insights relevant to the two entrepreneurial communities.
Conferences and symposia will feature investment and advisor opportunities between the two communities, as well as market-applied research collaborations.
GHANA GLOBAL will initially focus on forging relationships as a pathway to bringing entrepreneurial stakeholders together from the U.S. and Ghana. Initial efforts include the following: (1) defining “brand similarities” (i.e., identifiably expressed or visible commonalities) through research and publishings; and (2) developing industry relationships among investors, advisors, and startup founders by organizing recurring conference gatherings.
Academic publishings, popular press articles, news segments, media showcases, and organized industry-academic gatherings will be promoted through GHANA GLOBAL and shared with a broader community.
CONTEXT
Many startup initiatives, coding programs, incubators, and sustainability projects with multinational involvement have developed from newly installed Internet infrastructure in Ghana. GHANA GLOBAL factors the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN), which is a multiregional economic partnership established in March 2018 to build a high-speed Internet network between Ghana and western nations.
An “entrepreneurial ecosystem” denotes a community of activity that helps nurture, support, harbor, and invest in entrepreneurial education and endeavors (Feld, 2012), which exists with vibrancy in Ghana and is sorely under-recognized in the U.S., which offers future promise and opportunity for all stakeholders.
PROSPECTIVE LAUNCH IN FALL 2021
GHANA GLOBAL's prospective launch in fall 2021 would be propelled by a Fulbright Scholar Award through the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. The applicant is Dr. Brandon Chicotsky, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Marketing at Texas Christian University.
Dr. Chicotsky has committed to developing GHANA GLOBAL to realize its mission of connecting entrepreneurial communities in the U.S. and Ghana to establish lasting relationships and generative deal flow (e.g., new capital injections from U.S. investors into Ghana’s “tech hubs” and Ghanan advisors on American companies seeking international reach).