Kosmos Energy supports agribusiness bootcamp
Kosmos Energy Ghana has supported an agribusiness entrepreneurship boot camp organised by the Diaspora Angel Investment Network (DAIN) to train the youth across the country in entrepreneurship and vocational skills.
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The support forms part of the social investment responsibilities of the oil-producing company in the country.
The Vice President and Country Manager of Kosmos Energy, Mr Joe Mensah, said the DAIN boot camp aligned well with the Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC) programme, a social investment initiative the oil producer launched recently to invest in the country’s future by creating entrepreneurs.
“The centre is an exciting new social investment programme that is arguably the most important corporate effort in the history of Kosmos Energy in Ghana,” he indicated.
Boot camp
The programme is to ensure that farmers, start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agribusiness sector are well positioned to take advantage of opportunities in the sector to develop the country’s agricultural sector.
“We have to seize the opportunity to tap from the enormous experience and knowledge that these experts and resource persons in agribusiness and other sectors from the diaspora bring to us,” Mr Mensah said at the opening of the camp.
The agribusiness boot camp is an initiative that provides the platform for critical-thinking exercises and business frameworks to build a sustainable venture in the agribusiness supply chain while creating wealth in their respective communities.
The participants were taught skills in creating business in agriculture, addressing supply chain management, supplier development, value-addition and partnerships.
On the KIC programme, he said it “represents the same thinking and entrepreneurial spirit that helped us to get where we are today, except this time we play the role of an angel investor who is ready to support an entrepreneur who shows an exceptional desire to succeed, and that success translates into solving some of Ghana’s most pressing developmental challenges”.
Focus
The Director of the DAIN Network said it would continue to direct its focus on agribusiness entrepreneurship training for the youth, start-ups and SMEs, using professionals in the African Diaspora to provide mentorship and technical assistance.
He said the camp ensured that the group activity focused on getting entrepreneurs to think critically.
The Programme Director of the network, Nii Simon, said the participants received presentations from experts in various sectors of agribusiness.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Muniru Limuna, said the ministry would support initiatives aimed at improving the sector.
He commended Kosmos Energy and the DAIN Network for their efforts.
