A team of Ashesi sophomores has qualified to represent the Southern Sector of Ghana in the national final of the Unilever Ideatrophy. The team, CloseUp Giants, made up of Richard Odame ’15, Precious Nyarko-Antwi ‘15, and Portia Honu ’15, took on other teams from Ashesi, the University of Ghana and Radford University in the regional competition. A total of hundred teams applied to participate in this year’s completion. 
The Unilever Idea Trophy is a challenging and creative experience, through which students from different universities get to understand how businesses work while developing their own skills and competencies. A leading brand of Unilever is selected as the sole focus of Idea Trophy, and students are challenged to come up with a solution for a problem facing that brand. The activity is not intended as a business simulation but rather, is a real case which the brand faced. Winning ideas are selected for their relevance, creativity and feasibility, among others. The brand this year was Unilever’s Close-Up toothpaste.
“The competition has been great so far, and we are grateful to Unilever for such an opportunity,” said Portia, from CloseUp Giants. “We are looking forward to the finals of this competition, and the opportunity to engage with the winners of the Northern Sector, from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.”
The final for the Ideatrophy happens in January 2013, and teams will get to participate in a three-day boot camp which help them refine their ideas.
“The teams that have qualified for the final represent the best,” said Fafa Ayimey, project manager for the Unilever Ideatrophy. “The ideas they came up with were well thought through, and very executable. We are eager to work with them during the boot camp.”
Winners of the National Competition get an all expense paid trip to Unilever South Africa, and receive computers, mobile devices and a trophy from Unilever.