[ 2017-04-04 ]

Kosmos Energy holds Agritech Exchange for young entrepreneurs
Kosmos Energy, one of Ghana’s Jubilee Partners
has held a two day event dubbed Agritech Exchange
for its twenty-five AgriTech Business Teams
competing in the Kosmos Innovation Center 2017
AgriTech Challenge.


The exchange programme which aimed at helping
these young entrepreneurs build the foundation for
commercially-viable AgriTech start-ups which will
address challenges confronting the agric sector in
Ghana.

The event provided the platform for the young
entrepreneurs interact with  a mix of Ghanaian
agribusiness representatives, local technology
specialists, senior mentors in the agric sector
and financial institutions.

The first day of the AgriTech Exchange was
dedicated to the young entrepreneurs’
interaction with key players in the industry to
discuss, receive support, suggestions and in-depth
information about the agriculture.

  They in turns pitched their preliminary
business plans; which the best will be selected
for the Kosmos Innovation Center 2017 award, to a
panel of judges and other stakeholders for
feedback.


The second day was solely for the entrepreneurs to
refine tune their problem statements, turning them
into well-packaged business plans ready for
pitching to the panel of judges later in the
year.

Key stakeholders invited to the Exchange programme
had already identified and prioritized a number of
areas as the most pressing needs across Ghana’s
agricultural value chain, including
Livestock/Poultry/Fisheries management, on-farm
Production and Post-Harvest Challenges.

The rest are the Technical and Market Information
for Farmers and agro processes, Finance and
Insurance, and the ability to track food sources
to authenticate agro-inputs.

Kosmos Energy’s vice president and country
manager, Joe Mensah who was excited about the
outcome of the 2016 Kosmos Innovation Center Award
noted during the program that “we supported the
creation of two start-up companies which are
currently being incubated.

  We are encouraged by the huge response we have
received from young entrepreneurs during this
second season.  At the end of the day, we are
aiming to increase young people’s awareness of
opportunities within agriculture so they can help
to breathe new life into the sector.

This is what we have committed to do as a partner
in Ghana’s development.”
Before the exchange program, the 25 young
entrepreneurs between January 29 and 6th
February 2017 took part in a first Market Research
tour covering four regions namely, Ashanti,
Brong-Ahafo Eastern, and Northern Regions.


The first trip was arranged to give the
entrepreneurs a feel of the agricultural landscape
and the opportunity to interact with top CEOs and
staff of fourteen institutions in Ghana across the
agricultural value chain.

The market research tour was an eye opener for
the entrepreneurs, opening up networking
opportunities with institutions and farmers.

Source - citibsinessnews.com

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