Through a mix of training, mentoring, and seed-funding, young graduates in Ghana, Senegal, and Mauritania have the opportunity to bring their business ideas to life through the Senegal Startup Accelerator, AgriTech Challenge and Mauritania Innovation Challenge.
The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) invests in young entrepreneurs and small businesses who have
big ideas and want to see their country grow. The KIC was established in Ghana in 2016 with programs focused on inspiring and empowering young entrepreneurs to drive change in their own country.
Kosmos Innovation Center in Ghana
big ideas and want to see their country grow. The KIC was established in Ghana in 2016 with programs focused on inspiring and empowering young entrepreneurs to drive change in their own country.
Since its inception, the KIC has focused on innovation in agriculture – the country’s most important sector and largest employer. More than 600 aspiring entrepreneurs have participated in KIC Ghana programs, resulting in the creation of more than a dozen promising start-ups that have gone on to secure seed funding, additional business training, and capital investment.
In 2021, Kosmos Energy re-established KIC Ghana as an independent non-profit organization so it could take advantage of new funding sources that would enable the program to grow. As part of a new multi-year partnership, the Mastercard Foundation agreed to invest approximately US$16 million over four years in KIC Ghana programming. With this new financial support, KIC Ghana aims to expand operations and offer more training to a greater number of young entrepreneurs in every region of the country.
In 2022 KIC and Mastercard Foundation have selected 15 startup businesses as winners of this year’s KIC AgriTech Challenge Classic
Farmasyst Agritechnologies has developed mobile and web applications that facilitate monitoring services for the required support schemes available for smallholder farmers. There is an early disease and pest detection component of the application.
The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) invests in young entrepreneurs and small businesses who have big ideas and want to see their country grow.
Over 30 young entrepreneurs were selected to participate in the inaugural Mauritania Innovation Challenge. The business development program provides early-stage startups with the opportunity to develop the confidence and skills they need in order to succeed. Aimed at young entrepreneurs and small business leaders, the challenge takes participants on a proven eight-step journey to develop a market-ready product or service, with a final competition for seed-funding at the end. Alongside the seed-funding provided by Kosmos Energy to the winning businesses in the 2018/2019 Mauritania Innovation Challenge, program participants have been able to leverage additional funding from external funders.
In 2021, Kosmos Energy re-established KIC Ghana as an independent non-profit organization so it could take advantage of new funding sources that would enable the program to grow. As part of a new multi-year partnership, the Mastercard Foundation agreed to invest approximately US$16 million over four years in KIC Ghana programming. With this new financial support, KIC Ghana aims to expand operations and offer more training to a greater number of young entrepreneurs in every region of the country.
Awunpara Ghana
Kigo Ghana
Kigo Ghana provides groundnut uprooting machines to reduce the labor-intensive effort in groundnut production at an affordable cost. It thus also prevents aflatoxin contamination.
Farm Asyst Ghana
Kosmos Innovation Center in Senegal
In partnership with Reach for Change (an international non-profit founded in Sweden) with a history of success in Senegal, the Kosmos Innovation Center is helping young Senegalese entrepreneurs develop innovative solutions to challenges facing the agricultural sector: Program to strengthen social entrepreneurship with a particular emphasis on adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change
The Senegal Start-Up Accelerator provides entrepreneurs who have innovative ideas for the agricultural sector with the skills they need to turn their ideas into reality. Five entrepreneurs have been selected to take part in the accelerator. Over the course of six months they will receive intensive support to develop their solutions for implementation. Six months later, the aim is to launch five new businesses with the potential to transform the agricultural industry in Senegal.
DAI, an international development company, helps the Kosmos Innovation Center to design and implement programs that advance locally led, market-driven solutions to some of the country’s key challenges. It provides capacity building support, investment due diligence, and ongoing technical assistance to the team.
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