By Buertey Francis BORYOR, Christabel DANSO ABEAM
Fidelity Bank has awarded 17 local Agritech businesses grants to the tune of GH¢1,300million to enable them scale up their businesses sustainably.
The gesture is to empower the beneficiaries selected from 33 agritech start-ups that participated in the bank’s GreenTech Innovation Challenge Programme – where participants were made to pitch their business ideas.
This support is also a key component of the indigenous bank’s broader strategy to support and strengthen strategic sectors of the economy. It is expected that by focusing on these strategic areas, the bank can drive sustainable growth, enhance economic resilience and contribute to the overall development of the nation.
Addressing media at the just-ended 2024 Sustainability Summit themed ‘Ensuring Environmental and Economic Sustainability: Collaborate for Greener Future’ held in Accra, Julian Opuni, Managing Director-Fidelity Bank, explained that the initiative aims to strengthen and equip young entrepreneurs with innovative greentech solutions within the agricultural sector.
“Giving back to society is the bedrock of our sustainability agenda – where in our operations we want to be sustainable in offering finance and carrying out CSR activities to ensure we are impacting the economy in which we operate,” he added.
The move, he said, is in line with the bank’s aim to ensure that it plays an active part in the sustainability of the planet, while creating a legacy for children’s future.
“We are known for pioneering a lot of new ideas- pioneering things that we believe in, and we believe that sustainability is something that we cannot be silent about anymore.
“This is the reason why we are seeking to find young people and young businesses to assist financially and technically to drive their businesses forward,” he elaborated.
The MD assured that there will be a strict monitoring process for the awardees.
“They were very clear on exactly how they are going to use the money; we are going to ensure that our team follows up and ensures the monies go to where they said they were going to.”
Skin Gourmet adjudged overall winner
Skin Gourmet, a skin care start-up, was adjudged overall winner of the Agritech Start-up Challenge, receiving GH¢200,000 for the feat.
Other winners
Award recipients in the agritech start-up challenge Ideation Category went home with GH¢ 50,000 each. These include: Christian Abrokwa of AgriSupport; Denzel Osei Bonsu of Chan-Tico; Derrick Awumey of Agricom; Eric Yankey of Monger Food; Joseph Nimoh Bowyer of Fresh Aura; Naa Ayeley Tagoe of Sunify; Ntim Roselyn of Enactus UMA; Jennifer Oppong Danquah of Verte Tower; Yeboah Emmanuel of AgriEase; and Abdallah Salia of Farmtecture.
Also, those in the Scale-up Category won GH¢100,000 each – and these include Agrimercarb, Freshline, Nastec Power Solutions and Wobil Technologies Ltd.
The Commercialisation Category saw Axis Drone Service and Farm 360 receiving GH¢100,000 each to support their operations.
