Earlier this year, Kosmos Energy announced an initiative, KIC and the Agritech Challenge, where they would partner with MEST to invest in startups. The first cohort was focused on agritech, and ended up with two $50,000-each investments in 2 startups, Ghalani and Trotro Tractor. The Kosmos Innovation Center team is on the lookout for the next cohort, also looking to invest in agritech.
During the 6-month period that the first session run, there were several stakeholder meetings held, which helped to include as much industry players as possible. This would help startup founders to build their products, with the user and confirmed use cases in mind.
More than 100 young entrepreneurs from all over Ghana entered the competition, which began with the inaugural AgriTech Exchange, an interactive and informative brainstorming session in which experts in agriculture, business, and technology gathered to define the most pressing challenges facing Ghana’s agriculture sector. In a highly competitive selection process that followed the event, the young entrepreneurs pitched preliminary ideas to a panel of judges drawn from the Ministry of Agriculture, academia, and private sector enterprises. Just 44 entrepreneurs were selected to move forward to the next stage of the competition.
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After a successful first-run, KIC wants to go the agritech route again. If you have an interest, or an idea, in agritech, and see the Kosmos Innovation Centre a good fit, register for the 2nd batch, KIC Agritech Challenge, via the registration link.
More details about the program will be found on the Kosmos Innovation Centre website, at www.kosmosinnovationcenter.com
