A section of entrepreneurs from various parts of the African continent have this week convened in Accra, Ghana to discuss opportunities in agriculture and ways to address the region’s unemployment crisis.
A section of business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs met as part of an initiative dubbed the Young Innovators in Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development (YIELD) project.
The project seeks to build the capacity of agripreneurs who are at the verge of take-off so that they can negotiate the turbulent waters of growth.
YIELD is described as a three-phase project that has the core objective of helping young agripreneurs to scale up their agribusiness by studying thoroughly what works in the field and how this can be integrated into the business models of these agripreneurs.
“Unemployment is a opportunity and a challenge,” said Professor Dede Amanor, Director of Communications & External Relations at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET).
Also speaking at the event on February 14th, 2018, ACET’s Julius Gatune in his opening remarks said: “how we get dinner on our tables is about building entrepreneurial talent.”
Kosi Yankey CEO of Ghana’s National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) concurred, adding that agriculture is where the change will come from for Africa.
Yankey noted that 70% of the National Board for Small Scale Industries portfolio is in agriculture.
“Understanding the value chain and setting up storage facilities are critical entrepreneurial first steps to getting food security and jobs,” she said.
At the event, Yankey invited YIELD agricultural entrepreneurs to talk to her colleagues in a workshop and visit NBSSI offices to learn how they can access resources.
On his part, President of Ghana Agribusiness Chamber, Anthony Morrison advised young agripreneurs to partner with each other in order to get access to finance.
“We the youth are fascinated by technology and aribusiness is no exception,” said Morrison explained.
“We can do a lot. Let’s identify agriculture as a great business opportunity,” he added.