Client: Kosmos Energy
Duration: 2015-2020
Region: Sub-Saharan Africa
Country: Ghana
Solutions: Sustainable Business
DAI helped to design, launch, and implement the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) program to advance locally led, market-driven solutions to some of the country’s key challenges.
KIC is an effort to channel young people’s innovative entrepreneurialism into the country’s agricultural sector. Each year, KIC takes approximately 120 aspiring entrepreneurs through the KIC AgriTech Challenge, a series of market research tours, capacity-building programs, team-building exercises, and pitch competitions, culminating in seed funding and incubation support to a handful of high-potential startups that emerge from the program. KIC also engages with more mature agrifirms that are adding value to Ghanaian raw materials and supports them on their journey to scale and access growth capital. DAI’s Sustainable Business Group (SBG) provides capacity building support, personnel recruitment and management, stakeholder engagement, investment due diligence, and ongoing technical assistance to KIC.
Since 2016, five cohorts have gone through the KIC AgriTech Challenge. Some of the startups that graduate from the program have gone on to reach thousands of Ghanaian farmers with innovative products. Their solutions range from an app that has been called the “Uber for tractors,” to wearable devices for livestock that monitor their health and location. Several have gone on to secure further investments and win additional start-up competitions. In 2017-2018, KIC ran a Business Booster program for nine early-stage agrifirms, providing training, coaching, and networking support to help them access growth capital, strengthen their operations, create jobs, and acquire clients. In 2016, Kosmos Energy was named Corporate Social Responsibility company of the year at the Ghana Oil and Gas Awards, and in 2018 KIC was recognized with the prestigious P3 Impact Award by the US Department of State and its partners.
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