Opoku wins second edition of “The Challenge”

Joseph Opoku, a 26-year-old telecommunications engineer of MTN-Ghana and former student of the University of Mines and Technology, emerged winner of the second edition of “The Challenge” reality television show.
For his prize, Mr Opoku is the beneficiary of a postgraduate scholarship from the University of Westminster worth £40,000, including tuition for a 12-month postgraduate course, fully paid accommodation in an international students hostel, a monthly living allowance, a return ticket to the UK valid for a year and a new laptop.
Upon completion of his course, he is expected to return to Ghana to start work in a lucrative management position with either tiGO or the United Bank of Africa (Ghana) Limited.
The three runners-up were Sandra Barimah, Araba Abakah-Anaman and Anastacia Arko, who are to benefit from scholarships to do postgraduate courses at the Thames University, the London Metropolitan University, both in the United Kingdom, and IPMC in Ghana, respectively.
The event, which was held in Accra on Saturday, saw the six finalists exhibiting quality presentation of ideas and tasks they had accomplished as part of the challenge at previous stages.
The remaining two finalists who went home with consolation prizes and much confidence in themselves are Michael Quaye and Afuma Akosua Gyan.
At the first stage of the final challenge, the finalists were grouped into two teams, with each team identifying and executing a task dubbed the “Social and Economic Impact Task”.
The task, according to the organisers, was supposed to be sustainable and capable of bringing economic benefits to the people.
That stage, which ran throughout the duration of the competition, was won by the JESK Team, which set up a small-scale snail farm for the Frafraha Orphanage in Accra.
The team, which comprised Joseph, Enoch Nii Boi Quaye, an evictee, Sandra and Katherine Attoh, another evictee, donated GH¢1,000 towards the sustainability of the project.
At the second stage of the final challenge, the finalists had to justify why they deserved the ultimate prize in three minutes and it was that nerve-breaking session of the competition that posed the greatest challenge to the finalists.
Each attempted to convince a six-member board why he or she deserved the ultimate prize, but in the end Mr Opoku, whose answer to the question as to how he had made it that far, “Excuses do not work; it is either you have the result or you do not”, came up tops.
In an interview, Mr Opoku commended his colleagues for the part they played to bringing out the best in him.
The Minister for Information, Mrs Zita Okaikoi, commended the organisers and sponsors of the show and said the competition was in line with the government’s policy to enable the youth to develop their full potential and be ready to take up the mantle of leadership of the country.
She expressed the hope that the competition would encourage learning and research among the youth and offer them employment opportunities.

Caption: The six finalists in a group picture after the event. They are (from left to right) Michael K. Quaye, Akosua Afuma Gyan, Sandra S. Barimah, Joseph Opoku, Araba Abakah-Anaman and Anastacia C. Arko.