Through the partnership between KIC and The Mastercard Foundation, 50 teams from 5 universities across the country are battling it out at the 2022 AgriTech Challenge Classic event, to pitch their business ideas that will create employment opportunities in the agribusiness sector.

The AgriTech Challenge Classic is a flagship programme of KIC. The seven-month annual training program aims to develop the interest and build mindset change of students entrepreneurs and young graduates to ultimately drive systemic change in Ghana’s agriculture sector.

It provides the youth with the right exposure to the agriculture value chain, and networking opportunity to build and grow viable solutions to Ghana’s key agricultural challenges.

All is set for the Ideation team and panel of judges to select 15 ideas at the final pitch event scheduled to take place on Friday 21^st October 2022 at the University of Ghana. Prior to this, there will be a penultimate pitch event on Thursday 20^th October 2022.

From the final pitch event of the challenge, the 15 selected teams out of the 20 shortlisted, will move to the next stage of the competition, which is the KIC AgriTech Challenge Pro, an accelerator program aiming to support young entrepreneurs to launch and grow commercially viable, scalable solutions to key problems in the agricultural sector.

The program aims to drive technology and innovation as a catalyst to enhancing productivity, improving yields, and creating more jobs within Ghana’s agricultural sector.

Speaking ahead of the pitch event, Executive Director for KIC, Mr. Benjamin Gyan-Kesse has iterated the critical role KIC plays in driving AgriTech business innovation among young people towards bridging the unemployment gap.

“There are many opportunities for innovation and job creation within the agricultural sector landscape in Ghana. At KIC, we believe in the potential and power of young people to be changemakers and active drivers of their development. Over the years, we have seen improvement in the quality of the ideation process, tailor made to suit relevant and pertinent needs within the agricultural value chain, from production, distribution, market and consumption.”

Earlier this year KIC announced the launch of a multi-year partnership with The Mastercard Foundation to train the next generation of young leaders and entrepreneurs in Ghana’s agriculture sector.

Through the KIC and the Mastercard Foundation partnership, the AgriTech Challenge Classic expects to train about 4,880 young people across the partner universities in the next four years, through collaboration with regional academic partners such as universities and technical schools.