The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC), has launched the KIC Business Booster – an acceleration programme aimed at scaling Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (Agri-MSMEs) in the agriculture sector in Ghana.
KIc partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to embark on the KIC Business Booster that helps Agri-MSMEs expand faster by enhancing their investor readiness and linking them with prospective finance.
Participants in the program receive customized capacity-building training as well as company development support services like mentorship and coaching, market connections, and networking opportunities.
The initiative will help Agri-MSMEs improve their business processes, reduce financial limitations, and better engage with investors.
The KIC Business Booster program will scale up 900 Agri-MSMEs in Ghana’s agriculture value chains over the next four years.
The Accelerator will be deployed in phases as part of KIC’s relationship with Kosmos Energy and the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy in Ghana.
The Agri-MSMEs program will be based in Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Northern, and Upper West Regions of Ghana for the first year.
Applications will be accepted from now until May 27th, 2022. Agri-MSMEs in the above-mentioned regions can apply directly on KIC’s website: www.kicghana.org.
KIC hosted a learning session for young people and operators to honour the inauguration of the Accelerator program. The learning session brought together a panel of experts who examined the obstacles that Agri-MSMEs confront and suggested solutions to these problems.
Speaking at the launch, the Executive Director of KIC, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, said: “The Booster programme aligns with KIC’s goal of supporting Agri-MSMEs to scale up, provide food security, and build globally competitive brands backed by innovation and technology. We want to support Agri-MSMEs to grow and impact society in terms of providing food and creating jobs.”
In addition to the Business Booster programme, KIC has led bold initiatives within Ghana’s agriculture sector and supported young entrepreneurs driving innovative business models within the sector.
More than 100,000 farmers have been impacted by Agri-Tech and agribusinesses supported by the KIC programme.
“The KIC Business Booster program is another pillar of KIC’s work that has a lot of potential to alter the agriculture sector when provided with the required support,” said Joe Mensah, Board Chairman of KIC, Senior Vice President, and Head of the Ghana Business Unit of Kosmos Energy.
“Providing support to Agri-MSMEs means a lot to the KIC program,” he says, “and much like the other program aspects, the Business Booster program will have a substantial impact.”
“The launch of the KIC Business Booster program is aligned to our country’s strategy of investing in the agriculture and agriculture-adjacent sectors to unlock work opportunities for young Ghanaian women and men, and to push for system-level changes that will position Ghana as a technological hub with agriculture innovations that are suited to the African context,” said Rosy Fynn, Ghana Country Head at the Mastercard Foundation.
The Mastercard Foundation and KIC launched a multi-year partnership earlier this year to teach the next generation of agricultural leaders and entrepreneurs in Ghana.
Kosmos Innovation Center, Mastercard Foundation launch initiative to promote agric, MSMEs
