{"id":350012,"date":"2017-09-01T18:32:51","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T18:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=350012"},"modified":"2017-11-10T12:33:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T12:33:56","slug":"kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kosmos Energy has announced the three agric-focused enterprises as winners of the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) AgriTech Challenge.<\/p>\n<p>After nine months of the competition, six business teams emerged with viable concepts worth supporting for development.<\/p>\n<p>Kosmos Energy will provide US$50,000 in seed funding to two of these businesses, as well as sponsor them through a twelve-month incubation period at the Meltwater School of Technology (MEST) where they will learn how to turn their ideas into profitable businesses.\u00a0 The KIC selected teams are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>AgroInnova, <\/strong>with its product \u2018AKOKOTAKRA\u2019, is an enterprise mobile and web-based management system that enables poultry farmers to record, monitor, and track their operations in real time. With this innovative and comprehensive tool, poultry farm managers will have their farms at their fingertips for more effective and efficient operations.\u00a0 Their product will help poultry farmers in Ghana monitor and grow their businesses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>QualiTrace <\/strong>has developed a product to authenticate, track, and trace crop protection products used by farmers to increase their yields. Using a mobile validation system, the product aims to ensure that farmers and consumers in Ghana can identify genuine farm inputs and quality food produce. This tool will also help to thwart counterfeiting agricultural inputs in Ghana, a problem that accounts for the loss of about $1.5 trillion globally on annual basis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the winners of the AgriTech Challenge, four other promising business teams who competed will be funded or supported by KIC partners:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Unlimited<\/strong>, which provides simple livestock management software, called AniTrack, that identifies and tracks the health status of individual livestock through RFID technology, is being funded by the <strong>Meltwater School of Technology and Entrepreneurship (MEST)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-350016\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kosmos-Innovation-Center-1.jpg\" alt=\"kosmos-innovation-center-1\" width=\"1080\" height=\"720\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Complete Farmer<\/strong>, which provides agribusiness solutions services for an identified niche market of individuals through a practical, personalised and customised farming experience, is being funded by <strong>the Premium Bank of Ghana, with incubation sponsored by Kosmos<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Agroseal<\/strong>, which is a logistics and transportation service company providing a platform which connects aggregators of fruits and vegetables to large scale farmers for timely truck service, is partnering with <strong>AgroCenta<\/strong> \u2013 which uses an online platform that connects smallholder farmers directly to a wider online market to sell their commodities.\u00a0 Agrocenta found success when they participated in KIC\u2019s market research, skills training and capacity building program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rent-a-farm,<\/strong> which provides an agricultural land rental marketplace for renters who want to access arable land, is partnering CompleteFarmer to complement the company\u2019s agribusiness solutions services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The winners were selected from the more than 400 young entrepreneurs who applied to be a part of the 2017 AgriTech Challenge, out of which 200 were shortlisted and interviewed, with a final 106 forming 25 businesses (teams) to compete for the ultimate prize.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the successful program, Kosmos Energy vice president and country manager <strong>Joe Mensah<\/strong> said: \u201cThe second AgriTech Challenge succeeded beyond our expectations, with all six finalist business teams receiving funding or other support from the Kosmos Innovation Center and its partners.<\/p>\n<p>The quality of the teams, their entrepreneurial spirit, and the potential of their business ideas is a testament to the work everyone at the Kosmos Innovation Center has done in its short history. We look forward to similar success in the future with the AgriTech Challenge and our new acceleration program, which is aimed at helping established small and mid-sized businesses reach the next stage of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We look forward to similar success in the future with the AgriTech Challenge and our new acceleration program, which is aimed at helping established small and mid-sized businesses reach the next stage of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Minister for food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto who attended the function indicated that encouraging the youth to go into Agricuture through\u00a0 the use of technological innovation is commendable<\/p>\n<p>\u201d\u00a0 the goal of the Kosmos Innovation Center is to harness the youth to leverage information, communication, and technology (ICT) and innovation to solve some of the country\u2019s development problems, the choice of agriculture as your first focus sector, and particularly blazing the trail in nurturing and creating E-Agribusiness in Ghana must be commended!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis intervention is timely and appropriate as the sector increasingly requires an infusion of new life to attract our youth to find their space within the agricultural value chain\u201d, he further stated.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kosmos Energy has announced the three agric-focused enterprises as winners of the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) AgriTech Challenge. After nine months of the competition, six business teams emerged with viable concepts worth supporting for development. Kosmos Energy will provide US$50,000 in seed funding to two of these businesses, as well as sponsor them through a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[106],"tags":[3182,10752,3,10753],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kosmos Energy has announced the three agric-focused enterprises as winners of the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) AgriTech Challenge. After nine months of the competition, six business teams emerged with viable concepts worth supporting for development. Kosmos Energy will provide US$50,000 in seed funding to two of these businesses, as well as sponsor them through a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-01T18:32:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-10T12:33:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kosmos-Innovation-Center-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/\",\"name\":\"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-01T18:32:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-10T12:33:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"description\":\"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\",\"name\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"Kosmos Energy has announced the three agric-focused enterprises as winners of the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) AgriTech Challenge. After nine months of the competition, six business teams emerged with viable concepts worth supporting for development. Kosmos Energy will provide US$50,000 in seed funding to two of these businesses, as well as sponsor them through a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2017-09-01T18:32:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-10T12:33:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kosmos-Innovation-Center-1.jpg"}],"author":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@citi973","twitter_site":"@citi973","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/","name":"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-01T18:32:51+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-10T12:33:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/09\/kosmos-innovation-center-announces-winners-of-2017-agritech-challenge\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kosmos Innovation Center announces winners of 2017 AgriTech challenge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/","name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","description":"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1","name":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kojo Akoto Boateng"},"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350012"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}