Kosmos Innovation Center wins prestigious 2018 P3 Impact Award

KIC has been recognized as a world-leading public-private partnership for its work training 270 young entrepreneurs and helping to launch nine successful start-ups in Ghana.

The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) has been named as the winner of the prestigious Concordia P3 Impact Award, which was announced at the Concordia Summit in New York City alongside the UN General Assembly. The awards highlight Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) with an exceptional record in working to improve communities and the world in the most impactful ways.

The KIC was celebrated for its work in empowering young people to contribute to sustainable economic development in their country, by offering intensive programs of support to help them turn their business ideas into reality. Successful businesses from the program in Ghana are now addressing some of the main challenges in the agricultural industry, creating both employment and new opportunities. Through a tailored mix of business training, mentorship, introductions to investors, seed funding, and other support, the KIC provides all the components required for newly established businesses to flourish.

By training young people to spot business opportunities that others miss, the KIC in Ghana has successfully catalyzed innovation and investment that benefits the local economy as a whole. Since its launch, the KIC has provided business training, leadership development and technical assistance to 270 young entrepreneurs to help launch their own businesses. Kosmos Energy has invested $200,000 in seed funding, and helped to raise $1 million worth of growth capital from external funders. These funds have helped launch nine agri-tech start-ups with the potential to positively impact thousands of farmers, including:

• TroTro Tractor, a mobile tractor-share platform linking farmers in need with local tractor operators.
• Agrolnnova, an enterprise management system for poultry farmers to record, monitor and track operations in real time.

Speaking about the award win, Lauren Berry, Director of Social Performance at Kosmos Energy said: “The Kosmos Innovation Center represents our steadfast commitment to investing in Ghana’s future. The KIC is distinctive because it generates homegrown, commercial solutions to development challenges. The Ghanaian start-ups emerging from this program are tackling the most vexing issues facing agriculture today—from access to markets, to soil quality, to counterfeit chemicals. We are inspired every day by these young entrepreneurs and can’t wait to see what business opportunities they’ll find next.”

George Sarpong, Director of External Affairs at Kosmos Energy Ghana, also said: “It is a great honor for the KIC to have the achievements of the entrepreneurs we have supported recognized, as well as the time and effort of our partners – DAI and MEST – by this international award.”

The P3 Impact Award was created by Concordia, a non-profit dedicated to fostering, elevating, and sustaining cross-sector partnerships for social impact; the University of Virginia Darden School of Business; and the U.S. State Department. Read the statement from the U.S. Department of State about the outcome of the Awards here