KIC has announced a call for applications for the 2025 AgriTech Challenge Pro program. Nominations are open till November 1st 2024.
The AgriTech Challenge Pro program is supported by the Mastercard Foundation, through the Initiative for Youth In Agricultural Transformation partnership launched between KIC and the Foundation to train the next generation of young leaders and entrepreneurs in Ghana’s agricultural sector.
The KIC Agritech Challenge Pro is a 5-month 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. Participants are drawn from the AgriTech Challenge Classic program and from a pool of existing start-ups who are ready to nurture their business for investor-readiness. At the end of the training, KIC and its partners award some selected businesses with up to USD50,000 seed funding.
Participants from the competition share their valuable experience gained through the capacity building and coaching received from the training.
Meet Agnes Kuole, from the Upper West Region of Ghana. She had always dreamed of becoming an Agripreneur, then her dream came through when she joined the KIC AgriTech Challenge Classic and progressed unto the Pro. Together with her team, they formed a start-up called King Tractor and have locally manufactured a tractor. Through this initiative they are also creating local employment for local welders, etc.
“When I heard about the KIC Program, I decided to apply, Through the seed funding we won, we have been able to build a tractor and now I’m happy that we are able to support farmers in our community to plough and also be gainfully employed through our start-up, Agnes said.”
Grow For Me is a commodity and input financing, aggregation and trading platforms. It enables individuals to participate in farming and commodity trading. On his part, Nana Opoku Agyeman-Prempeh, co-founder and CEO for Grow For Me mentions how the funding support received through KIC’s partners has enabled the start-up to scale up their commodity trading business and input financing for their rice farmers in Asutuare.
“We decided to partner with KIC to leverage on their skills, network, expertise and partnerships. We have been able to grow our business substantially and also create employment opportunities for young people.”
Speaking about the impact of KIC, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, Executive Director of KIC, mentioned that KIC’s commitment to transforming the agricultural sector through youth employment has led to the creation of 64 businesses through KIC’s programmes.
KIC remains committed to supporting scalable business ideas within the agricultural sector, by encouraging young people to see the opportunities within the sector. KIC start-ups that have been through the KIC program include Agro Innova, Complete Farmer, Agro Empire, Jaasgrow, Agrimercarb, among others. Since 2016, KIC has supported more than 60 businesses from ideation to set-up.
Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/peacefmonline.com
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