Kosmos Innovation Centre launches new Agritech Challenge ‘Pro’ Competition
The Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), a non-profit organisation that invests in young entrepreneurs and small businesses, has held its first pitch in the 2021 AgriTech Challenge Pro Competition, an acceleration programme aimed at equipping existing start-ups with the right tools, funding and support to bring their business ideas or products to market and prepare them to scale.
At the event, 25 start-ups pitched their business concepts to a distinguished panel of judges comprised Ghanaian business leaders and sector experts.
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For the past five months, the start-ups have been working on their business plans with Kosmos Innovation Center staff supporting them with technical assistance, business coaching and mentorship.
As part of the training, the 25 startups conducted extensive market research journeys throughout Ghana and engaged industry stakeholders to collect data to inform their product development.
The start-ups are involved in various aspects of the agriculture industry: 10 are working in multiple sectors of the agricultural value chain, 4 in cereals, 3 in poultry, 3 in fruits and vegetables, 2 in tree crops, 2 in livestock and 1 in legumes.
The panel of judges is now reviewing the performance of the start-ups after the pitch and those start-ups who qualify will advance to the next stage of the competition, which comes with additional training and the opportunity to secure seed funding.
Those start-ups who do not qualify for the next stage of the AgriTech Challenge Pro Competition are eligible to join the Kosmos Innovation Centre Fellowship, which offers networking opportunities, capacity building programs and coaching.
Mr. Joe Mensah, Chairman of the Kosmos Innovation Centre’s Board of Directors and Senior Vice President and Head of the Ghana Business Unit for Kosmos Energy, said: “The Kosmos Innovation Center continues to develop Ghana’s young entrepreneurs and challenge them to bring fresh thinking and innovation to the agricultural sector. With the new AgriTech Challenge Pro Competition, the KIC is expanding its offerings to more start-ups than ever before.”
Mr. Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, Executive Director of the Kosmos Innovation Center, said: “Kosmos Innovation Center continues to adapt to meet the needs of entrepreneurs, offering a full life-cycle of support to help small- and medium-sized businesses scale up and become sustainable.”
KIC
The Kosmos Innovation center is a not for profit organisation that invests and supports young entrepreneurs and small businesses with viable ideas in the agriculture value chain.
It trains and build capacities through the Agritech Challenge programme, incubate and support businesses through the KIC incubator and accelerates small businesses for investor readiness through the KIC Business Booster.
Since the inception of the programme in 2016, four cohorts (AgriTechies or teams) have gone through the KIC AgriTech Challenge.
