University Of Ghana and Kosmos Innovation Centre Build Partnership for Development

Mr Benjamin Gyan-Kesse and Professor Felix A. Asante exchanging the signed agreement        

The Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID) is championing a vision to advance the application of innovation and facilitate socially mobile networks/platforms to develop entrepreneurial skills and create viable job opportunities for the youth.

On Friday 4th March, 2022 the Pro Vice-Chancellor – Research, Innovation and Development, Professor Felix A. Asante signed a collaboration agreement on behalf of the University of Ghana with Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC) under a Mastercard Foundation project dubbed ‘YOUNG AFRICA WORKS’.  The event took place at the ORID conference room in the LECIAD building, Legon campus.

Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC) is a non-profit charitable organization, funded by Kosmos Energy, and aims to develop young entrepreneurs and small businesses.

In collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, KIC is implementing The Agritech Challenge, one of three major initiatives.

                                      Professor Felix A. Asante delivering his opening remarks

Mr Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, the Executive Director of Kosmos Innovation Centre who outlined ambitious plans to support the youth expressed gratitude to ORID/UG for embracing the opportunities that KIC seeks to bring to students at UG. He stated that as part of the KIC’s core mandate of collaborating with institutions, they hope to provide the platform for KIC and UG to collaborate and find innovate ways to solve the problem of youth unemployment in the country.

                               Mr Benjamin Gyan-Kesse giving a brief remarks

The UG-KIC flagship programme is dubbed “Initiative for Youth in Agricultural Transformation (I.Y.A.T)” and is spearheaded by the School of Agriculture under the leadership of Professor Irene Egyir (Dean). The programme will train and expose young people to the challenges and opportunities of the agricultural sector, equip them with employable skills and provide support to create and sustain innovative solutions. The start-up projects generated from this initiative will serve as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to boost the agricultural sector. The programme will run for four years (2022-2025).

According to the Dean, the School of Agriculture had embarked on various initiatives and the collaboration with KIC was one of such programmes that will enhance training. She was optimistic that the benefits of the programme would be far reaching and expressed her willingness to extend the programme to other departments within the School. She was grateful for the support from KIC.

Professor Felix Asante underscored the significance of the programme, in particular the benefits of implementation across the entire value chain of the agriculture sector. Similarly, he hoped that the opportunities under the programme will be accessible to students from other disciplines to acquire conceptual insights and share ideas for multidisciplinary application.

Members of the University Community present at the signing event included, Prof Eric Nartey, Head, Department of Soil Science, Dr Comfort Freeman, Head, Department of Agricultural Extension, and representative from the Public Affairs Directorate (PAD). The KIC team included Ms Enyonam Damesi, Communications Manager, Mr Titus Beyuo, Business Development Manager, Mr Kamil Nabong, Business Incubation Manager and others.

                                A group picture of officials present at the programme