By:Isaac Amoah/tntnewspaprgh.com

There was a big jubilation as the judges for the MTN Business pitch contest announced “NOLAP Technologies”, developed by level 200 students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), as the overall winners for the challenge with the ultimate prize of thirty thousand Ghana cedis (GHC 30,000) among other items.

NOLAP Technologies developers receiving the cash prize

The NOLAP Technologies team, led by Mortoti-Agogyi Lorlornyo Jephthah, a level 200 Information Technology student at the Computer Science Department, KNUST, couldn’t hold back their excitement in celebrating the victory.

Some scenes from the event

The web development studio designer outperformed Vynix Tech, AgriHub, AgriFirmex, and PayAlert in a keenly contested ideas challenge that won the hearts of the five (5) independent judges.

In his presentation, the founder of technology said, “The platform is an AI-powered exam preparation tool that enables students to generate practice questions, upload study materials, track academic progress, and access premium learning features.”

According to him, the platform is already accessible to students, which was confirmed by the judges after his impressive presentation.PayAlert secured the second position, with AgriHub taking third place. AgriFirmex and Vynix Tech followed in fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

Dr Frank Amoakohene speaking at the opening ceremony

In an interview with journalists, Mortoti-Agogyi Lorlornyo Jephthah expressed their profound gratitude to the Almighty God for the grace and MTN Ghana, Ashantifest organisers for the opportunity.

According to him, for the next 2 years, they’re going to implement their ideas with the target of getting campus ambassadors across the various universities with the intention of covering all of Africa and the world with their product.

Mortoti-Agogyi Lorlornyo Jephthah said they develop websites for businesses and individuals among online products and appeals for support.

He said the cash prize will be used to provide support to scale the NOLAP Prep platform and expand its reach.

On his part, Mr Eric Antwi, the regional manager for MTN Ghana SME Business, Northern sector. said, “We’re here as part of Ashantifest and also part of SME Accelerate.According to him, SME Accelerate is a year-long event. “We believe in nurturing entrepreneurs.

This year, as part of Ashantifest, we realised there were a lot of ideas with entrepreneurial stuff, and we (MTN Ghana) took the opportunity to nurture or develop the ideas to come to fruition.

MTN decided to organise a pitch business contest or challenge for contestants to come up with their business ideas or proposals with practicable solutions for us to support them to grow!

Mr Antwi said they have the team that will monitor the winner for the year. He said, “Seed money of thirty thousand Ghana has been allocated for the winner.We believe that the ideas they brought are practical, and we have a monitoring team that will guide the winner throughout the journey.

He also revealed that for three years now, 100,000 SMEs have been impacted through the SME Plus platforms; 20,000 women have also been impacted using the Adwumapa bundle; and 30,000 businesses have been impacted using the MTN Yellow Biz.

According to him, there are huge opportunities through the SME space, and they’ve outlined a lot of capacity building to empower SMEs in financial management skills,branding and packaging and digitalisation to help them expand and sustain their businesses for economic growth. By integrating digital tools such as Ayoba, Chenosis, and MoMo into participants’ growth strategies, MTN Ghana continues to play a pivotal role in driving digital innovation and entrepreneurship across the country.

The Ashantifest festival was introduced by the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council, led by Dr Frank Amoakohene, to promote tourism and cultural heritage and also develop the talents of the people in the region, especially the youth, in the areas of business, sports, and entertainment, among other areas.Mr Eric Antwi said the MTN Business Pitch Challenge remains a key initiative by MTN Ghana aimed at supporting startups and SMEs through funding, mentorship, and training.It also provides participants with access to valuable networks, including investors and business development experts..

The Ashanti regional minister,Dr. Frank Amoakohene heaped praises on MTN Ghana for unflinching support for the successful event. Dr. Frank Amoakohene said MTN Ghana has demonstrated once again without any reasonable doubt that they’re indeed committed to the economic empowerment of Ghanaians and challenges other corporate institutions to emulate MTN Ghana’s shining example.