By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Akyawkrom (Ash), Nov. 07, GNA – Ten outstanding teams who emerged as winners of the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) AgriTech Challenge Pro 2026 have received a total of $100,000 as seed funding to support and expand their business operations within Ghana’s agricultural sector.
The KIC rolling out the programme in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation awarded the highest recipient from “Angban Life” with $13,000 as seed funding, “From a Mother’s Kitchen” received $12,000 with seven other companies receiving $10,000 each and “Hot Drops” taking $5,000 seed funding.
Prior to the final pitches, the teams, of which some are into agro-hardware and food innovation, benefitted from coaching and technical support from experienced professionals and industry experts.
Mr Stanley Amamu, the Programmes Manager for KIC, speaking to the Ghana News Agency after the awards, believed that agricultural transformation must be driven by innovation as well as building businesses and creating opportunities for the youth in the value chain.
He indicated that this was why the KIC was contributing to youth employment by helping people to see the opportunities in agriculture beyond farming.
“In our programmes we provide entrepreneurship skills, business development support, technology and innovation support, and by this we are exposing young people to see the opportunities in the agriculture sector so that they can establish and grow agribusinesses for themselves”, he emphasised.
The AgriTech Challenge Pro, he said, was one of the KIC Programmes which helped young people to go beyond identifying the problems in agriculture to establishing innovative solutions that addressed challenges in the sector.
Mr Amamu explained that the KIC’s support goes beyond pitching; noting that for a business to be sustainable, one must have a viable business idea that is capable of attracting customers, generating sufficient revenue that manages their cost effectively and are able to also create jobs.
He urged young people to continue taking advantage of the opportunities in the ecosystem, adding that the KIC provides full-blown support for a business to thrive.
The Programmes Manager called on stakeholders to partner the center to impact Ghana’s agricultural sector in creating jobs.
Mr Ibrahim Kwame Asante, the Coordinator, Technology Transfer, Commercialisation Directorate- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said that these businesses would make an impact dwelling on the KIC’s intensive coaching and art of mastery.
Sharing his experience as an Ideation Team Member, he observed that the capacities of these businesses would create decent and fulfilling jobs for especially women, youth and people with disability.
Ms Nimatu Alhassan, a seed fund winner, indicated that the award would help scale the business through supply and demand chain and increase their production capacity.
GNA
Edited by Yussif Ibrahim/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Florence Afriyie Mensah
Email address: [email protected]