Young Agriprenuer, Ababio Kwame’s part of his daily activities as the CEO of the company is also involved in research for the development of Agriculture in Africa. Regardless of his professional background as a Geospatial engineer, Kwame finds passion in Agriculture and its business.

Ababio, was recently adjudged Winner of maiden Young African Agriprenueurs competition by African Development Bank-2017, Nigeria.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/774604/ghanas-kwame-ababio-wins-big-at-agric-show-african-youths.html

The Founder was recently on 6th March 2017 ‘Ghana’s 60th Independence” awarded Future of Ghana 30 U30 Awards as first of 30 Young Ghanaians under 30 years making impact in the 2017 awards edition.

• http://ameyawdebrah.com/future-ghana-2017-announces-top-30-30-list-iamfutureofghana/
• http://futureofghana.com/
3. Special feature by Founder’s professional trained University: https://goo.gl/5D8Keu
4. The Founder was awarded RUFORUM African Young Entrepreneur -2016, South Africa. https://www.modernghana.com/news/730907/ghanas-ababio-kwame-of-green-afro-palms-wins-young-entrepre.html
5. GAP was listed in Top 15 African Agric-innovations by RUFORUM Challenge-2016, South Africa.
https://ruforum.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/young-innovators-web.pdf
6. Founder – was selected in President Obama’s YALI Nigeria Pioneering Cohort-2016, Nigeria.
7. GAP is listed in 100 globally competitive start-ups-2016, Ghana.
http://thestartupnetwork.org/2016/03/07/100-globally-competitive-startups-in-ghana-by-tanoe/
8. The Founder was – listed 40 Ghanaians under 30 years making impact-2015, UK.
9. The Founder was adjudged: ADLER African Young Entrepreneur -2015, Germany.https://www.modernghana.com/news/660565/young-ghanaian-wins-adler-entrepreneurship-award-2015.html

Below are some of his publications on Agriculture in Africa:
– Why I must do Agric-An AFRICAN Youth: http://africabusiness.com/2015/09/24/ababio-kwame/
– http://www.myjoyonline.com/opinion/2016/february-9th/ghana-why-oil-palm.php
– http://www.modernghana.com/news/654184/1/palm-oil-agribusiness-needs-a-bit-more-attention.html
– http://www.myjoyonline.com/opinion/2015/December-4th/ghanas-agriculture-bleeds-where-is-the-good-samaritan.php

Shikhar Naad, son of Taufiq Quereshi, and by the looks of it, yet another legend in the making! Shikhar Naad is known for playing African drums. He plays percussion instruments like tabla & djembe. He is the first artiste who plays unique rhythmic language to adapt the tabla syllables on the African drum called Djembe – taught by his father Taufiq Quereshi.

India has been packaged in multiple ways, for multiple audiences, both domestic and foreign. From the India Shining campaign to the more recent Make in India call, there have been efforts to position the country as an attractive destination for tourism and business alike, while also building a sense of pride and belonging.

Even as we criticise the flatness of these descriptions, we would be hard put to come up with any concise and readily digestible version of the reality that is India that does justice to its complex history and diverse social and cultural fabric.

For those who wish to do business in India, to find a formula that can be applied to making sense of its regulatory frameworks (or absence thereof), political machinery, bureaucratic procedures, its resources, and formal and informal markets, it becomes a question of which slice to look at, and how.

Bharat Joshi, in Navigating India: $18 Trillion Opportunity, undertakes the role of interlocutor for those who might be seriously contemplating entering the Indian market—as investors, collaborators, makers and sellers.

He sets out to explain—rather translate—the landscape of the Indian economy in all its complexity, in eight analytical chapters and three illustrative appendices.

Addressing himself primarily to the foreign investor, Joshi begins by laying out the “promise”, emphasising that: “In the brave new world, you ignore India at your own peril”.

Author in his preface exclaims: India has just been rediscovered!

Well, not quite in the manner Vasco Da Gama did in 1498,
but by Indian and foreign investors alike, who have up-ended
their previous positions on India. And this appetite has grown
beyond taking quick (read fickle) money positions in Indian
markets through the foreign institutional investor (FII) route, to
the more committed foreign direct investment (FDI) channel.
The Indian business lexicon is rapidly being challenged and
redefined by the Modi juggernaut: FDI means ‘First Develop
India’, Made in India has given way to ‘Make in India’, and
unfamiliar notions like self-certification are being embraced.
The seduction of India, the market, has been reinforced
through the temptation of India, the cheap source of goods
and services.

Rising input costs in China and the European Union
(EU), Brexit, Trump administration, embargoes on Russia (via
Ukraine), and other geopolitical developments have only added
to the draw of a relatively predictable India. The world should
be paying a lot of attention to India, both economically and
politically, i.e. we should see India being courted by economic
powerhouses such as Japan and the United States of America
(USA) looking for a big Asian ally (soon to be the world’s third largest economy), to counter the threat—real or imagined—
posed by China’s growth and increasing assertiveness in the
international arena.

These rediscoveries are not new. The country has been host
to foreign corporations for centuries—and that’s not counting
the East India Company. Siemens has been around since the
1800s, Philips and Bata are honestly thought to be homegrown
enterprises by at least a billion Indian consumers, and Bofors
(Saab AB) almost brought down governments.

In the finest traditions of noisy entrepreneurial ecosystems,
India is home to a multitude of businesses, both Indian and
foreign, ranging from corner stores to multinational corporations
(MNCs), and sole proprietorships to public-listed companies.
India’s rapid rise up global rankings of wealthiest individuals
and corporations (Jaguar Land Rover and Arcelor Mittal are
famously Indian-owned), has fuelled their growing influence
beyond India on to the world stage.

As with any vibrant free-market economy, there are scores of
thousands of businesses that operate at each level and scale. And
as much as we are tempted to box these into neat generalizations
(small and medium enterprises or SMEs, liaison offices, foreign owned,export-oriented units or EOUs, information-technology
enabled services or ITES firms, etc.), Indian companies are not
immune and are faced with a range of problems with remorseless
consistency.

Even companies that have been around for decades find their world order disrupted every few years, caused by sudden,unfathomable, often unfriendly legislative changes or decisions.

The speed of the elephant (that has scored over tiger as the
world’s favourite metaphor for India), i.e. the rapidly evolving
tastes and spending habits of its various strata of demographics,
catches us all off guard. This disruption compels these businesses,
large and small, to question, revisit and revise their practices if
they are to sustain their success.

This book aims to dive into these issues and examine through
the experiences of others; personal anecdotes and interviews; case
studies from the public domain; and this author’s impressively
cerebral insights—all of which will hopefully illuminate the path
to the promised land, the tourism tag line of which is something
of a warning—‘Expect the unexpected’.

Mr. Bharat R Joshi – the author of the book “Navigating India $18 Trillion Opportunity” – career has spanned the roles of entrepreneur, author, social worker and mentor.

Bharat is CEO of J-Curve Ventures Pvt. Ltd (www.jcurve.in ). J-Curve focuses on a range of verticals through 3 i’s – Insight+, Investment and Implementation, and has alliances with institutions in Germany (Fraunhofer IML), New Zealand, Hungary and Netherlands.
He serves on boards of ACTL (www.actlindia.com ) and JKTI (Joshi Konoike Transport and Infrastructure). The companies have interests in logistics, technology and infrastructure.

Mr. Joshi has addressed fora in India, China, Japan, New Zealand and Europe. He’s a charter member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), and was acknowledged in UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2006. He led a Future Leaders’ delegation to Japan in 2017, upon invitation of Japanese Government.

Bharat is a Broadcaster for AIR (All India Radio), writes for print and online publications (Wall Street Journal, CNN IBN, Economic Times, etc), is visiting faculty at SRCC (Shri Ram College of Commerce), Delhi University, and author of Navigating India: a socio-economic commentary and guide for business in India.
Bharat is an alumnus of the University of Bradford and pursuing OPM at Harvard Business School.

A keen photographer (www.bharatmrida.com) and sportsman, Bharat lives in New Delhi, India,where his art has been used for fundraising for WWF and Rotary initiatives. He was youngest ever
President of Rotary Club of Delhi Midtown (www.rcdm3011.org), and during his term adopted a village in Haryana, with a special emphasis on women’s empowerment and rural development.

Bharat is the recipient of multiple awards for his contributions in philanthropic, academic and business pursuits.

Overview
FarmDrive is an agricultural data analytics company drives financial services to unbanked and underserved smallholder farmers, while helping financial institutions cost effectively increase their agricultural loan portfolios. Using simple mobile phone technology, alternative credit scoring, and machine learning,
FarmDrive closes the data gap that keeps smallholder farmers from the financial services that would allow them to grow their agri-businesses and increase their incomes.

Business Summary
Problem
Potentially creditworthy smallholder farmers are often denied loans because they lack the traditional credit profiles that lenders rely on to evaluate borrowers: assets, business records, and credit histories. Financial institutions do not have well-designed and operationally efficient methods of accurately assessing and
managing smallholder farmers’ risk, making them reluctant to lend to farmers. Farmers are therefore left with little access to credit, and financial institutions are left with a hole in their client base and product line.

Solution
FarmDrive’s flagship solution is an alternative credit scoring model that assess the creditworthiness of smallholder farmers who can’t be scored by traditional credit models, and are therefore deemed uncreditworthy. Furthermore, the model enables financial institutions to accurately and efficiently lend to smallholder farmers.

The credit scoring algorithm targets each farming vertical and geographical region by aggregating numerous streams of big and small data sets: Socio-Demographic, Social Network, Behavioral, Agronomic, Environmental, Economic, Mobile, and Satellite.
FarmDrive’s SMS/Android mobile app serves as the first point of data access. With this app, farmers can apply for and receive loans via mobile money wherever they are, track their revenues and expenses, and view reports on their farming and economic activities. FarmDrive validates the data collected through the app in order to gain insight into farmers’ social and individual behaviors, farm management abilities, and cash flows.

In addition to the validated farm-level data collected through the app, FarmDrive also collects big data from satellite companies, weather stations, government agencies, and more. Using these aggregated data, the model generates credit scores and provides automated decisioning tools that enable financial institutions to
develop loan products that fit the economic and agronomic needs of smallholder farmers.

In 2016 FarmDrive completed the initial phase of product-market fit in partnership with a Kenyan MFI. Through this pilot over KES 15 mil (USD 150,000) in loans were disbursed throughout 16 counties in Kenya. The pilot served as a proof point that better risk assessment can unlock capital for smallholder farmers, and informs the product development we’re doing today to drive more capital to farmers.

L.R 1/437 Kindaruma Rd, Nairobi, Kenya | +254 795 518 442 | www.farmdrive.co.ke | info@farmdrive.co.ke
Founders

Rita Kimani and Peris Bosire , are young changemakers who are passionate about using technology to improve lives. Both grew up in smallholder farming communities and experienced first-hand the lack of financing available to most farmers. They went on to earn First Class Honours in Computer Science at University of Nairobi and gain technical experience from leading firms, including IBM and PwC. They used their personal, academic, and professional experiences to build FarmDrive.

Rita and Peris have been recognized for their work with FarmDrive and their roles as leaders in their communities. Rita is a UN Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals and Peris, an Ashoka
Changemaker , won the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Award and Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work in 2016.

Awards and Recognition
FarmDrive’s unique and innovative model has garnered both national and international attention, and won several awards. In 2017, FarmDrive has won the inaugural Roddenberry Prize and Digital Africa Startup Challenge sponsored by the French Development Agency . In 2016, FarmDrive won the Thomson Reuters Africa Startup Challenge , earned second prize at the Fincluders Startup Challenge and was a semi-finalist in the Lending & Finance Category of the African FinTech Awards . Additionally, FarmDrive has participated in The Unreasonable Institute and Village Capital startup accelerators.

Notable Press
Fast Company: This Kenyan Startup Uses Mobile Phones To Build Credit For Farmers
Techweez: Kenyan Startup FarmDrive Uses Data Analytics to Connect Unbanked Farmers to Financial
Services
Capital FM: Safaricom Spark Fund backs agricultural analytics startup
Business Daily: Firm uses credit-scoring database to boost farmers’ loan access
L.R 1/437 Kindaruma Rd, Nairobi, Kenya | +254 795 518 442 | www.farmdrive.co.ke | info@farmdrive.co.ke

Ababio Kwame,

Founder & CEO,

Ghana

 Green Afro-Palms (GAP) is a “young” sustainable agro-company, based in the Ashanti region of Ghana/ West Africa. The company has an innovative and scalable model that utilizes oil palm fruits from small scale farmers for producing oil palm oils for human consumption in a more affordable, quality and hygienic manner.

GAP has set up an improved processing agro-processing facility utilizing current technology, which was designed and fabricated by themselves with locally sourced materials, from Ghana-West Africa. They use this facility to provide tailored agro-processing services – Fast, Easy & Efficient, to small scale oil palm farmers in aiding them to efficiently get more oils from processing their harvests from farms, than their initial methods. This action of GAP is helping farmers make more money from their activities and GAP is getting more oils from the oil palm crops, to sell in the markets both locally and internationally.

Their processing activities produces crude palm oil (CPO), palm kernel oil (PKO) as well as palm fibre cake in more hygienic and sustainable manner with positive effects to the environment. In exhausting the value chain, the enterprise also assists small scale farmers in reviving their abandoned or mismanaged farms in Ghana, and advocates for sustainable oil palm production under their project dubbed Green the Palms-Africa (GTP-Africa). In this way, Green Afro-Palms (GAP) is creating a high social and environmental impact for the cultivation and processing of oil palm in Africa.

GAP’s agenda in reviving agriculture in Africa is done by their tailored actions for small scale farming specifically in oil palm. GAP searches for small scale oil palm farmers and adopt them to assist them in salvaging their undermanaged and abandoned farms using modern farming technologies and convert the yields from these farms into processing of oils which are then packaged and sold on both end-user and business markets in a more hygienic manner. Their actions has seen a revival in more than 300 small farmers’ activities; increasing the cultivation and processing of oil palm in Ghana, producing 200,000 litres of palm oils in last 24months. GAP is on the move to replicate this approach, in other sub-Saharan nations in Africa after full implementation in Ghana.

The young agro-company lead by young Ababio Kwame and 3 youth in its early stages within 2 years of its existence has been in tremendous action to increase food production in Ghana-West Africa, with their focus on ways of infusing technology (soft and hard) in conventional farming and agro-processingalso paying attention on streamlining marketing of final produces from farming. Their aim has been to implement best ways of cultivation and processing yields from farms to increase production and reduce post-harvest loss using improved processing technologies.

Their chosen path is in Oil palm cultivation and over the last two years they have accomplished the following:

Ø Completed one set of their improved agro-processing facility (locally designed and produced by themselves) which is in operations in Ghana -W/A.

Ø Provided improved palm oil milling services for over 200 farmers in Ghana with Farmers yielding three times oils than their initial methods of processing.

Ø Efficiently processed to-date over 1000 metric tons of palm fruits.

Ø Distributed and sold 200,000 litres of CPO onto the African market in their second year.

Ø  Won an outstanding contract (supply order) for CPO in bulk quantities in Ghana. ORDER Specification: “NO Limit Quantity”

Ø Up to 200 farmers benefited directly from their GTP-Project- that revives abandoned or mismanaged oil palm farms in Ghana.

Ø The company has been established and been in operations till now without any external source of investment.

Profile:  

Online: www.gapworld.org

www.facebook.com/greenafropalms

Videos:

https://youtu.be/_7XZPgFjm3k,https://youtu.be/D6u8QswD-3E

Their early stages activities have granted them some accolades:

1. Founder was recently adjudged Winner of maiden Young African Agriprenueurs competition by African Development Bank-2017, Nigeria.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/774604/ghanas-kwame-ababio-wins-big-at-agric-show-african-youths.html

2. The Founder was recently on 6^th March 2017 ‘Ghana’s 60^th Independence” awarded Future of Ghana 30 U30 Awards as first of 30 Young Ghanaians under 30 years making impact in the 2017 awards edition.

• http://ameyawdebrah.com/future-ghana-2017-announces-top-30-30-list-iamfutureofghana/
• http://futureofghana.com/

3. Special feature by Founder’s professional trained University: https://goo.gl/5D8Keu
4. The Founder was awarded RUFORUM African Young Entrepreneur -2016, South Africa. https://www.modernghana.com/news/730907/ghanas-ababio-kwame-of-green-afro-palms-wins-young-entrepre.html
5. GAP was listed in Top 15 African Agric-innovations by RUFORUM Challenge-2016, South Africa.

https://ruforum.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/young-innovators-web.pdf

6. Founder – was selected in President Obama’s YALI Nigeria Pioneering Cohort-2016, Nigeria.
7. GAP is listed in 100 globally competitive start-ups-2016, Ghana.

http://thestartupnetwork.org/2016/03/07/100-globally-competitive-startups-in-ghana-by-tanoe/

8. The Founder was – listed 40 Ghanaians under 30 years making impact-2015, UK.
9. The Founder was adjudged: ADLER African Young Entrepreneur -2015, Germany.https://www.modernghana.com/news/660565/young-ghanaian-wins-adler-entrepreneurship-award-2015.html

The Founder – Young Ababio Kwameas part of his daily activities as the CEO of the company is also involved in research for the development of Agriculture in Africa. Regardless of his professional background as a Geospatial engineer, Kwame finds passion in Agriculture and its business. Below are some of his publications on Agriculture in Africa:

• Why I must do Agric-An AFRICAN Youth: http://africabusiness.com/2015/09/24/ababio-kwame/
• http://www.myjoyonline.com/opinion/2016/february-9th/ghana-why-oil-palm.php
• http://www.modernghana.com/news/654184/1/palm-oil-agribusiness-needs-a-bit-more-attention.html
• http://www.myjoyonline.com/opinion/2015/December-4th/ghanas-agriculture-bleeds-where-is-the-good-samaritan.php

2017 Annual Meetings opinion piece

                                   Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina

                             President, Africa Development Bank

Africa, like India, is a continent of rich and compelling diversity.  Both continents share a similar landscape, a shared colonial history, and similar economic and demographic challenges.  This helps both India and Africa work especially well with each other.

This cooperation is both a mutual privilege and priority. At the end of the 2015 India-Africa Forum Summit, Indian Prime Minister Modi announced very substantial credits and grant assistance which benefitted our relationship. In addition to an India-Africa Development Fund, an India-Africa Health Fund and 50,000 scholarships for African students in India were established.

India’s bilateral trade with Africa has risen five-fold in the last decade, from $11.9 billion in 2005-6 to $56.7 billion in 2015-16. It is expected to reach $100 billion by 2018. This is attributed largely to initiatives by India’s private sector, and here again we are on the same wave length. We understand and appreciate that the private sector will be the critical element in Africa’s transformation.

African countries are targeted by Indian investors due to their high-growth markets and mineral rich reserves. India is the fifth largest country investing in Africa, with investments over the past 20 years amounting to $54 billion, 19.2% of all its total Foreign Direct Investment.

At the same timea transformed Africa is taking shape. Despite a tough global economic environment, African countries continue to be resilient. Their economies, on average, grew by 2.2% in 2016, andare expected to rise to 3.4% this year. But the average does not tell the true picture. Indeed, 14 African countries grew by over 5% in 2016 and 18 countries grew between 3-5%.  That’s a remarkable performance in a period when the global environment has been impeded by recession.

By 2050, Africa will have roughly the same population as China and India combined today, with high consumer demand from a growing middle class and nearly a billion ambitious and hard-working young people. The cities will be booming, as the populations (and economic expectations) rise exponentially around the continent.

This is the busy and bustling future that Africa and India must shape together in a strategic partnership. And nowhere is this partnership more needed than on the issue of infrastructure.

At the top of the list is power and electricity. Some 645 million Africans do not have access to electricity. It’s why the African Development Bank launched the New Deal on Energy for Africa in 2016. Our goal is to help achieve universal access to electricity within ten years. We will invest $12 billion in the energy sector over the next five years and leverage $45-50 billion from the private sector. We plan to connect 130 million people to the grid system, 75 million people through off grid systems and provide 150 million people with access to clean cooking energy.

The African Development Bank is also in the vanguard of renewable energy development and the remarkable “off-grid revolution” in Africa. We host the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, jointly developed with the African Union, which has already attracted $10 billion in investment commitments from G7 countries.

Universal access requires large financial investments. By some estimates, Africa needs $43-$55 billion per year until the 2030s, compared to current energy investments of about $8-$9.2 billion.

We must close this gap. And to do so, the mobilization of domestic resources will play a major role. Pension funds in Africa will reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. Already tax revenues have exceeded $500 billion per year. Sovereign wealth funds in Africa stand at $164 billion.

To attract significant investment by institutional investors, infrastructure should become an asset class. The African Development Bank has launched Africa50, a new infrastructure entity, now capitalized by African countries at over $865 million, to help accelerate infrastructure project development and project finance. Also, later this year, the African Development Bank will be launching the ‘Africa Investment Forum’ to leverage African and global pension and sovereign wealth funds into investments in Africa.

Moreover, the African business environment keeps improving, with easier regulations and more conducive government policies to attract the global investors. In 2015, Africa alone accounted for more than 30% of the business regulatory reforms in the world.

The fact is, we have already started to transform Africa. This is the territory of the High 5s: Light up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of life of Africans.

We can forge winning partnerships investing in power generation, energy, agro-aligned industrialisation and food processing.  In doing so we can work on the synergies that exist between infrastructure, regional integration, the regulation of enterprises, employment, health and innovation.

In each of these areas I see the prospect for cooperation and collaboration with Indian partners. For example, we are partnering with the EXIM Bank of India and others to establish the Kukuza, a company based in Mauritius, to help develop and support public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure project development and finance.

India is already one of the top bidders for Bank projects. This is a reflection of its immense expertise in a diverse range of areas from engineering to education; from ICT to railway development; skills development to regional integration; and from manufacturing to industrialisation.

It is our pleasure to partner with such an inveterate and committed investor in Africa. And may this investment be lucrative and justified, and may our mutual interest and cooperation continue for many years to come.

Dr Akinwumi Adesina is President of the African Development Bank.  The 2017 AfDB Annual Meetings were held in Ahmedabad, India, 22-26 May.

Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina is the 8th elected President of the African Development Bank Group.

Adesina served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015, during which time he implemented bold policy reforms in the fertilizer sector and pursued innovative agricultural investment programs to expand opportunities for the private sector.

He was previously Vice-President (Policy and Partnerships) of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). He was also Associate Director (Food Security) at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, where he worked for a decade (1998-2008) in senior leadership positions, including as Regional Office Director and Representative for Southern Africa.