The 2023 KIC Agritech Challenge Classic is in the pitch stage of the competition. Different university campuses have organised their pitch events for all the business ideas, following the students’ experience during the recently completed market research tours phase.
KIC is committed to empowering young people to become entrepreneurs by providing them with the needed coaching and mentoring to transform their ideas into viable products or services within the agricultural sector, using innovation and technology. Since its inception, KIC has trained more than 1500 young people.
KIC AgriTech Challenge Classic is a 7-month program that identifies young people who are interested in setting up a business and provides them with a system of training, workshops, and support to develop their business ideas. The program uses coaching and market research tours to encourage participants to take a fresh look at the agriculture value chain and identify new areas with potential business opportunities. These businesses have ranged from agri-research & development, to inputs, production, processing, post-harvest storage and marketing and distribution. The first stages of the pitches are taking place at campus level for each of the 10 participating universities. The universities include the University of Ghana (UG), in Greater Accra, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), in the Upper West region, University of Cape Coast (UCC), in the Central region, the University for Development Studies (UDS), in the Northern region, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in the Ashanti region. Ho Technical University (HTU), from the Volta Region, Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU), from the Upper East Region, Takoradi Technical University (TTU), from the Western Region, Koforidua Technical University (KTU), from the Eastern Region and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) from the Bono Region.
With a select group of Ideation Team members from the respective region, the AgriTech teams are receiving expert advice to fine tune their business ideas. Ideas that progress unto the next stage of the challenge will then progress onto the testing their Market Viable Product on the marketplace. This will enable them to fine tune these business ideas and whiles gathering market insights on market share, pricing, competitor landscape, as well as identifying the target group consumer. The final stages of the AgriTech Challenge Classic will involve Zonal pitches, culminating into a final pitch competition, where winners announced will progress onto the AgriTech Challenge Pro competition.
Through partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, KIC’s AgriTech Challenge Classic expects to train about 4,880 young people across the partner universities from 2022-2025, collaborating with regional academic partners such as universities and technical schools.
