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BeaCoPure

Press

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The award

BeaCoPure took first place in the Social Impact Enterprise Track of the 2026 McGill Dobson Cup, out of a field of 64 startups, winning the National Bank of Canada Award for that track. The Dobson Cup is McGill University's startup competition, powered by the National Bank of Canada, with close to 200,000 Canadian dollars in prizes across four tracks. The award cheque for BeaCoPure is dated 5 May 2026 and is made out for 20,000 dollars. In the same season, BeaCoPure was selected to compete at the 2026 Hult Prize Canada Nationals, the national stage of the Hult Prize, hosted by the McGill Dobson Centre in Montreal on 10 and 11 April. That is not the global final, and it is not the million US dollar prize.

The backing

BeaCoPure is supported by the Mastercard Foundation FAST program, the Fund for Alumni Start-ups in Transition, which provides up to 15,000 US dollars in enterprise support along with business development training and mentorship to ventures founded by alumni of Mastercard Foundation programs. We are also a supported SME within the Nkabom Collaborative, a ten year partnership between McGill University, the Mastercard Foundation, six Ghanaian universities, and the Association of Ghana Industries, focused on Ghana's agri-food sector. Nkabom is university and foundation backed; BeaCoPure holds no government endorsement and claims none.

Fast facts

BeaCoPure is a Ghanaian coconut oil producer. We press coconut oil in the Volta Region, bottle it for cooking and for hair care, and supply it in large quantity to other companies. Hair products, the Hair Growth Oil and the Hair & Scalp Conditioner, are made from that oil and herbs, 100 percent natural as stated on our packaging. Byproducts of pressing go into energy production and to other companies that need them as inputs. The founder is Erica Eyram Konu. The company equips single mothers and youth in rural Volta Region communities with skills in coconut oil production and communication. The business started in December 2024, very small, and was registered in 2026 in Canada and in Ghana.

The story in one paragraph

Coconut oil sits at the intersection of three growth curves: industry analysts put the global virgin coconut oil market near nine percent annual growth, African hair care at seven to eight percent, and natural hair oil as the fastest growing segment of natural hair care. Ghana holds Africa's largest coconut cultivation base and still exports mostly raw nuts. BeaCoPure captures that value at home, pressing coconut oil in the Volta Region and returning the work and the income to the communities that grow the coconuts.

Coverage and primary sources

These are the sources behind the facts above. Each one is listed with what it supports, so you can check a single claim without reading all four.

The pitch

Our founder's Dobson Cup pitch, in her own voice. It loads only when you press play.

Media kit

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