Following successful applications for the 2023 KIC AgriTech challenge, students have been enrolled to take part in the programme, across 10 different universities in 10 regions of the country.
After a rigorous selection process across the partnering universities, AgriTechies have embarked on their market research tours. These tours are a critical aspect of the programme, where students meet with industry players across different value chains to identify some of the opportunities, challenges and come up with business ideas.
Through the Market Research Tours, students have formed great ideas that have gone on to be nurtured into Market Viable Products (MVPS). The students receive feedback and coaching from
Speaking about the impact of this phase of the programme on the business ideation, Ayeshatu Ameen, Co Founder and Marketing Lead of Jaasgrow, a KIC start-up from the 2022 AgriTech Challenge Classic, said: “The market research and feedback received from the market testing has helped our team to improve our production process. I learnt a lot and met many key industry players.”
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.
Winners from the AgriTech challenge classic competition will go on to join the Agri Tech Challenge Pro, an 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.
Speaking about the impact of the programme, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, the Executive Director for KIC said: “KIC is committed to developing young entrepreneurs to transform the agricultural sector in Ghana with innovation and cutting edge AgriTech. At KIC, over the years we have seen business ideas develop through the AgriTech Challenge Classic, grow and progress unto other KIC mentorship programmes.”.
Through the KIC and the Mastercard Foundation partnership, the 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.