Chances are that the Ghanaian edition of the famous Spelling Bee will not run again due to lack of funds.

Last Friday, Joy FM heeded an 'SOS' call by the organisers of The Spelling Bee, Ghana to save the project.

This was after organisers of the 10-year-old national spelling competition took to social media to crowdfund after one of their sponsors pulled out less than a week to the start of the 11th edition.

JOY FM picked up their social media post and went live on radio to appeal for funds for The Spelling Bee, Ghana.

Listeners called in within minutes of the appeal to pledge funds, services, and support for The Spelling Bee.

The Country Director for Young Educators Foundation, organisers of The Spelling Bee, Eugenia Tachie-Menson mentioned how they have consistently complained that lack of sufficient funds is the number one problem they contend with year in, year out.

In her numerous interviews both home and abroad, Mrs.Tachie-Menson has always hinted at the challenge of raising sufficient funds for the Bee.

With some few days to the start of the 11 edition of the competition which brings together thousands of students to battle who is the best speller to represent Ghana on the global front, one major sponsor has pulled out.

Oganisers mentioned that the most loyal support over the years has come from Indomie, DStv, South African Airways, Rufus Greenparks, Blue Knights Bookshop, Voltic/Muscatella and the US Embassy-Accra.

The competition this year needs ¢250,000 to stage a successful event for the 11th edition, the organisers have revealed. 

Listen: Audio-Ghanaians to the rescue as Spelling B plunges into jeopardy 

According to Mrs. Techie-Menson, “going public with the real situation has gotten better awareness, understanding, and response that I am questioning why I was pussyfooting around the issue all this while.”

According to organisers, "we are truly touched by the overwhelming response from well-meaning Ghanaians. The friends and well-wishers on  social media, as well as  Joy FM's appeals, have been very helpful.”

Parents, guardians, teachers and many others who support the event are in a race against time to save the project with some setting up a gofundme accounts to solicit for funds for the event.

“The overall support has been incredible and we are encouraged to persevere and continue with the program with the aim of bringing the Scripps Spelling Bee Cup home soon.

"We want to be able to reach as many children as we can with our programme and encourage Ghanaians to continue to contribute to The Spelling Bee through our crowdfunding pages," the organisers added.  

10th edition winner Lily Tugbah

Below are the concerns raised by the brainchild of the event posted on her Facebook wall last Thursday.

"Why? Why? Just why can I not get Ghanaians to see the value of the Bee so we can grow it? The number of people who have stopped in to ask, why aren't you running the Bee in every town, why do you not show it on TV, why are you not running adverts in the newspapers, why is it only one winner who travels to the US, why is the scholarship money for the winner of the Bee so little, why don't you speak to sponsors early so they budget for your Bee........

Every year, sponsorship drive for the Bee in Ghana takes me an emotional roller-coaster ride which always gets my family (bless them) extremely worried. From being told that 'our brand supports entertainment only' to being strung along for months only for the prospective sponsor to 'dump' you 2days to start date of the Bee, I have all but given up on Ghanaians accepting that the Bee as worth supporting.

Take yesterday, when one of our long-term sponsors (to whom every year we MUST grovel, beg, cajole & convince to sponsor the Bee) emails us, after we presented our proposal close to 9months and kept sending innumerable emails requesting for meetings (so we can repeat that cycle of grovelling, etc) that owing to unforeseen circumstances they are unable to sponsor.

Now, we are less than 1 WEEK away from the start of this year's Bee...and we get this blow... in an email...when does the Bee approach other sponsors within the next few days to get them to sponsor this big-budget Bee??? How are we to proceed when it has been left till this late to be told: "sorry, but we can't sponsor"?

The cost of running the Bee every year hovers between ghc500-700k; we travel the country to train over 1,000 children, we have to pay commercial rates for every venue we use...every…last one...school premises, event halls...transportation…then we have to pay for media publicity& production...every..single..one you see or hear...at commercial rates....no media house (TV, radio, newspaper) deems the Bee 'worthy enough' to 'sponsor'...and yet we see how they (TV here)purchase foreign soap opera and attract sponsorship based on the almost infinite amount of airtime given said soap...I am going to cut to the chase before I break down into convulsive tears here.

The Spelling Bee @11 starts in less than a week and needs as much funding as you can offer. I can no more grin and bear it...it's not working. All those of you who believe in the Bee and have liked, loved and shared posts about the Bee, I come to you and seek your support...no amount is too little. We need to raise about ¢250K to cover the remainder of our expenses for the Bee@ 11."

Interested individuals can support the Bee via mobile money on 0249106220 contact Philip Partey or click on here. 

Let's do this!

If we get 5000 people giving us GHS 50, we will raise this amount!

2500 friends giving GHS100 each will sort this out!

250 believers giving GHS 1000 will get the Bee working again this year!