KIC and Mastercard Foundation have announced winners of the 2023 AgriTech Challenge Classic Finals at a pitch event which took place from the 18^th to 19^th December, 2023 in Accra. A total of 50 teams from across 10 regions of the country participated in this year’s pitch competition.

Present at the event were Mr. Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, Executive Director, Kosmos Innovation Center; Mr. Joe Mensah, KIC Board Chair; Mr. Gottfried Odamtten-Sowah, Program Lead, Agribusiness, at Mastercard Foundation; members of the Ideation Team; Faculty Advisors from participating universities, as well as other stakeholder organisations.

After five months of training under the AgriTech Challenge Classic, 20 teams have been selected to progress on to the AgriTech Challenge Pro. Under KIC’s partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, which started in 2022, KIC has been able to scale up the AgriTech Challenge program bringing on board 10 partnering universities this year, from a total of 5 universities last year.

The 10 participating universities include University of Ghana (UG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast (UCC), Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU), Takoradi Technical University (TTU), Ho Technical University (HTU), Koforidua Technical University (KTU), University of Development Studies (UDS), SD Dombo University of Business &  Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS), and University of Energy and Natural Resource (UENR).

The program involves training and capacity building workshops, market research tours to meet with industry actors, entrepreneurship coaching and mentoring from the Faculty Advisors and Technical teams. The AgriTech teams receive constructive feedback from a panel of experts, that are referred to as Ideation Team members, who help to shape their ideas. Teams that progress onto the AgriTech Challenge Pro will be given USD2,000 to grow their Market Viable Product (MVP).

Speaking about the impact of the program, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, Executive Director of KIC explained that KIC is committed to providing transformational journey for young people, to create job opportunities for them within the agricultural sector through entrepreneurship. “The future of Africa’s prosperity is in Tech and in Agribusiness. This will create economic empowerment for young people, and at KIC we are collaborating with partners to provide this personalized training program for young people. Our program portfolio not only addresses mindset change about agriculture, but provides practical training, tools, network and resources for entrepreneurial development”, he added.

In his remarks. Gottfried Odamtten-Sowah, Program Lead, Agribusiness, for Mastercard Foundation, highlighted the Foundation’s commitment to empowering young people to access dignified and fulfilling jobs.

“Through  our partnership with KIC, the  AgriTech Challenge Classic program, is  providing employment opportunities for young people within the agribusiness sector’, he added.

The 20 winning teams  from the AgriTech Challenge Classic to make it to the Pro include: Agricems (UDS), Agriquinns (TTU), Bunnybites (KNUST), Cas-Tech Glue (TTU), DeliMush (UDS), Ecofibre Solutions (UG), FEEP Fibertech (UENR), Greenhusk Innovation (UDS), Greenwood (UG), Harvest Ease Innovators (UENR), Healthy Farmer (UDS), Hullsnovation (UDS), Husk Pack Ghana (HTU), NAYAD Foods (HTU), PaCo Paper (KTU), Rabbitton (UCC), Sunify Solardry Technology (UDS), SunRay (UBIDS), Tekcycle (KNUST), and Zoyapel (BTU).

These 20 teams will join 20 more start-ups  that were previously accepted into the 2024 AgriTech Pro team through applications received. These include: 3Farmate Robotics; Aretha Forson; Bolstaar; Earl K Foods; Ebapreneur Solutions: Farmercy Technologies; FarmWallet; FeatheryCare; FemFarmLife; Fertiltech; FreshLine PHS; GreenHeart Se; GreenMatics; Grenopak; GuineaGenesis; HyfeBee; McHan Organic; MeSADA PCL; OrgaFert and Rijona  BBC

The Kosmos Innovation Center is committed to creating opportunities for young people to thrive and make social and economic impact.