Hayford Siaw selected Playmaker by Playing for Change

Post date: Apr 03, 2012 6:4:54 PM

A Ghanaian Social Entrepreneur, Hayford Siaw has been selected along Felix Uzor and Sharron Nestor as Playmakers for 2012. The selection by Playing for Change, a non-profit organization founded by Kinnevik-Sweden, supports social entrepreneurs who improve the lives of children and youth. Kinnevik believe that the best way to create a social change is to give the right tools to people who are passionate about their task and who has the entrepreneurial driving force to make a change.

The chosen entrepreneurs call Playmakers; get financial support but also advice and mentoring from a network of employees within the Kinnevik Group of companies. The goal is to help the entrepreneurs build sustainable operations that will have a great social impact. In Ghana, the Kinnevik Group includes, television station Viasat 1, telecom company Tigo, financial institutions Bayport Financial Services and Consumer Finance Company (CFC).

This Friday, out of 900 ideas, they had come down to only four, who got to pitch their ideas live in front of a jury consisting of Obefemi Banibge (CEO and acting GM, Tigo), Charlotte Gustavsson (CEO Viasat1 Ghana), Justice Boahen (CEO, CFC), Kofi Adu-Mensah (Bayport Ghana), Letitia Adu-Ampoma (Integrity manager, Tigo) and Johanna Hallin (Director Strategic Planning, Playing for Change)

Hayford’s idea is Street Library – a solution to bringing mobile libraries to rural communities, promoting literacy and educational curiosity to disadvantaged children. Felix and Sharron’s innovative idea is Sports for Life – a program for promoting water safety and preventing drowning, the number one cause of death among children in Ghana.

According to Hayford Siaw, the street library is a social purpose initiative that aims to foster sustainable social transformation and participation through education. ‘’Literacy is a key component of strategies to support long-term economic and social value creation. As a result, the Street Library aims to be ‘the means’, and not ‘the end’. Particular emphasis will therefore be given to creating a setting that should enable targeted groups (especially children and youth) to acquire skills and interest for the long-term development of their literacy level.’’ He added.