KIC has organised its first stakeholder engagement with some selected Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs) in Accra. The meeting was to provide KIC and the Farmer Based Organizations interactions and shared areas of deepened collaboration between farmer needs assessment and job creation in agribusiness that will be relevant to the needs identified. It also created pathways for KIC to provide capacity-building and funding opportunities to support to farmer-based organizations to meet some of these challenges.
As an innovation hub focused on agritech and youth employment, KIC is committed to partnering with key stakeholders in the agriculture and agri-adjacent sectors. In his opening remarks at the meeting, Mr. Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, the Executive Director for KIC, called on the Farmer Based Organisations to create shared solutions to address some of the challenges within the agricultural value chain by focusing on youth-led innovation, as well as strengthening their readiness for funding and grant opportunities for scaling up agribusiness and farm business management.
KIC is looking to support farmer-based organizations using a grants-based approach to tackle issues relating to capacity building, agricultural data, access to inputs, and market access among others. This intervention will be carried out under the Business Booster component of KIC’s programs. The KIC Business Booster program is a growth and acceleration program targeted at Ghanaian-owned Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Farmer Based Organisations. The program seeks to strengthen and spur the growth of existing MSMEs in agriculture and agriculture adjacent sectors in Ghana that have demonstrated potential and are ready to scale.
The decision to scale up and reach more organisation through funding support and capacity building is made possible through KIC’s partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. In May 2022, Mastercard Foundation and KIC announced the launch of a multi-year partnership to train the next generation of young leaders and entrepreneurs in Ghana’s agriculture sector. Other key aspects of the partnership include the AgriTech Challenge Classic, AgriTech Challenge Pro, the KIC Incubation, Business Booster, and the Blue Skies Foundation School Farm Competition.