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The Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), in partnership with the Rabo Foundation, has launched a two-year programme designed to strengthen agribusinesses and enhance their investment readiness.
Launched in Accra last Thursday, the Business Booster Programme seeks to build the capacity of 100 agribusiness small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through structured business development, mentorship, investment readiness and market access support.
Under the programme, 50 agribusiness SMEs will be selected in each of two phases to undergo eight months of intensive support.
The initiative targets enterprises operating in key agricultural value chains, including cashew, shea, soybeans, seeds, fonio, moringa, spices, cocoa processing, horticulture and oil palm.
Also, the programme would prioritise businesses led by young entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 45, with 70 per cent of participants expected to be women-led enterprises and 80 per cent youth-led businesses.
Eligible applicants must have operated for at least four years, generate annual revenues of at least GH¢1 million and work with a minimum of 250 smallholder farmers.
Participating SMEs will receive enterprise diagnostics, business growth plans, a three-day business boot camp and five virtual masterclasses.
They will also benefit from dedicated mentorship, legal and compliance support, peer learning opportunities, financial literacy training, creditworthiness assessments and investor matchmaking.
In addition, the selected businesses will receive branding and packaging support, buyer introductions, opportunities to participate in trade fairs and assistance to integrate into digital markets.
Eligible applicants must visit the KIC website or social media pages, complete the online application form by uploading documents, registration certificate, TIN and a recent financial statement and submit by August 9.
The Executive Director of the Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, urged stakeholders to deepen existing partnerships and work together to unlock the full potential of agribusiness enterprises.
He observed that development funding was becoming increasingly limited, making it imperative for institutions to explore alternative models to sustain their impact.
He expressed confidence that with sustained partnerships and strategic investment, many of the country’s MSMEs could grow into globally competitive companies, similar to multinational firms that had also started as small family businesses.
He also indicated that KIC has, among others, expanded its interventions over the past decade to nurture the next generation of agripreneurs through its School Farm Programme implemented in partnership with Blue Skies.
Mr Gyan-Kesse said the centre had reached 700 schools across all 16 regions last year, while this year’s programme was being rolled out in more than 500 schools nationwide, aimed at changing young people’s perception of agriculture by presenting it as a viable business opportunity rather than a last-resort occupation.
A Finance Consultant with the Rabo Foundation, Rosina Obeng, said that since 2022, the foundation had assessed more than 50 prospective partners in the country but shortlisted only 11 and onboarded five organisations.
She explained that many applicants did not qualify because they were still in the early stages of development and had not yet met the foundation’s investment threshold.
She also observed that it has become a major challenge to identify well-structured and investment-ready agribusinesses in the country.
She said that supporting businesses with strong links to smallholder farmers was central to the foundation’s mission, stating that Rabobank itself was established by dairy farmers working collectively to improve their livelihoods.
Ms Obeng indicated that the partnership would engage with financial institutions from the outset to ensure participating agribusinesses had access to financing after completing the programme.
