The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) and Mastercard Foundation have announced fifteen (15) emerging Agri-Tech solution startup companies as the ultimate winners of the 2022 AgriTech Challenge Classic.
The fifteen selected teams from the twenty nominated teams out of a total of fifty will advance to the next phase of the competition.
Organized by the Kosmos Innovation Center in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, the AgriTech Challenge Classic is a seven-month program that supports young students with innovative ideas in Agri-Tech, education, the right contact with the agricultural value chain and networking opportunities to create viable solutions for to develop and breed the main agricultural challenges of Ghana.
The fifteen teams are AgroCold, Agyenkwah, Alpha Weeder, AgroEmpire, Green Grow, Dirty Gold, Kigo, Duckweeds Aduanepa, BES Veggie, KoduTech, Plant Aide, Biocul, Premium Coco and Witdeen.
The AgriTech Challenge Classic is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students from colleges across the country, however small farmers form a significant part of the indirect beneficiaries of this KIC programme.
AgricTech Challenge Classic uses coaching and market research tours to encourage participants to take a fresh look at the agricultural value chain and identify new areas of potential business opportunity.
KIC Executive Director Benjamin Gyan-Kesse said the program is designed to promote more efficient and sustainable agribusiness and support services through technological solutions for farmers.
“The AgriTech Challenge Classic program is designed to lead to more trade, better incomes and livelihood opportunities for young people and small farmers, while encouraging young people’s participation in the agricultural sector,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Gottfried Odamtten-Sowah, Agribusiness Program Manager at the Mastercard Foundation, said that through its partnership with KICs, the Mastercard Foundation continues to empower young people to support innovative approaches that create economic opportunity in the agricultural sector.
Through the partnership between KIC and the Mastercard Foundation, the AgriTech Challenge Classic aims to train around 4,880 young people at the partner universities over the next four years, working together with regional academic partners such as universities and technical schools.
During the first phase of the KIC AgriTech Challenge Classic program, KIC worked with five major public universities in five regions of the country to recruit participants in their respective regions.
Universities include the University of Ghana in Greater Accra, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies in the Upper West Region, University of Cape Coast in the Central Region, University for Development Studies in the Northern Region and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the Ashanti region.
The next stage of the competition is the Agri Tech Challenge Pro, an accelerator program aimed at helping young entrepreneurs launch and develop commercially viable, scalable solutions to key problems in the agricultural sector.
The program aims to advance technology and innovation as a catalyst to increase productivity, improve yields and create more jobs in Ghana’s agricultural sector.
DISCLAIMER: The views, comments, opinions, contributions and statements of readers and contributors on this platform do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Multimedia Group Limited.
