By Samuel SAM
For the sustainability of a country, the ability to harness the potential and passion of the citizens, coupled with business ideas, help to drive economic growth, foster innovation, alleviate poverty, promote balanced regional development and create wealth. Entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in national development, acting as a catalyst for economic growth and social transformation.
Also, maximising individuals’ potential would help them to contribute to national productivity by being responsible, hardworking and efficient in their professional and personal lives while striving for excellence, raising the standards of national productivity and competitiveness.
The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) is an institution that has contributed greatly to the development of the potential of many Ghanaian entrepreneurs by fostering innovation. It has carved a niche for itself with its commitment to the empowerment of young people in the agricultural space through the provision of resources and training.
Background of Akayeti and Hights Enterprise
Hights Enterprise Limited, an agricultural processing firm founded by Matthew Akayet and based in Bolgatanga, has greatly benefitted from the support of KIC. With a commitment to excellence, the enterprise has for the past years been playing vital roles in driving economic empowerment and enhancing the quality of life for many rural women in agriculture.
Chief Executive officer of Hights Enterprise Ltd., Matthew Naamlebna Akayeti, happens to benefit from the KIC after being recognised for his leadership and innovation in the agricultural sector, particularly for his efforts in adding value to agricultural produce in northern Ghana.
He holds a Master’s degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the field of Industrial Finance and Investment. He has worked in various fields, from the banking sector to non-governmental organisation (NGO), for over fourteen years now. His most recent job that he took up in agriculture as a full time business is as Finance Officer with a British-Ghanaian NGO based in the Northern Region.
Role of Hights Enterprise Ltd.
The agro-processing firm is focused on adding value to agricultural products, particularly in northern Ghana. Their main products include Royal Cold Pressed Groundnut Cooking Oil, Royal Green Baobab Oil and Powder, Royal Green Sesame Cooking Oil, Royal Green Shea Butter, Smoked and Fresh Guinea Fowl Meat Supply, Royal Groundnut Paste and Royal Green Dawadawa Powder as well as cosmetics like Shea butter, among others.
The company works closely with rural women farmers, training over 2,000 of them in organic farming techniques and helping to form cooperatives to ensure sustainable and eco-friendly production. It sources its raw materials directly from these women-led cooperatives by helping them to improve their livelihoods while ensuring high-quality organic products.
In addition, the company plays a vital role in empowering women economically through initiatives such as providing certified seeds and capacity-building programmes, supported by organisations like GIZ. They also offer sustainable energy solutions by using agricultural by-products to generate biogas, which is sold at affordable rates to rural communities as a cleaner alternative to firewood.
Motivation for venturing into agricultural sector
Mr. Akayeti describes his motivation for going into agriculture. “As a oormer Finance Officer by training, the passion to do what I think is best for the people within where I hail from is my motivation. The main driving force was to ensure I inspire the women groups to go beyond farming into converting the raw materials into finished goods to earn a living.
“Working with them over time, I saw a gap and felt the need to step out to do something for the women because most of them take the money and go out to purchase products manufactured somewhere and bring to sell. At the end of the day, if they are not sold, it becomes debt. As a result, they find it difficult to pay back the loan. Also, looking around, I felt that I can help these women by putting them into groups and see how we could turn their view about farming to improve their lives.”
Motivation to start the enterprise
The main driving force was the spirit to make a difference in society to help the vulnerable women. Ghana needs someone who will be ready to step out and take the task to help the country; and working as a finance expert over the years, he realised that of all the surveys he conducted in various supermarkets in Bolga, there was a huge gap with regards to edible oil, common ones available were ‘zome’, soya bean oil and some locally made coconut oil – the rest of them were imported.
According to him, setting up the agro-processing company was aimed at adding value to the raw materials produced and sold by the rural women. In the mix of all this, he found a huge gap and needed to step in with a solution for these vulnerable farmers because Ghana should maintain the lands they have and farm appropriately for productivity. He added that the organisation registered the women groups under Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), a local organic system recognised by Ghana Ecological Organic Standard.
This was to ensure that the farmers comply according to the standard to avoid the use of synthetic chemicals on the crops, which is more dangerous to their lives, soil and the community. Also, the shortage in the market encouraged him to start Hights Enterprise Limited because of the expansion of the company, allowing them produce large volumes and penetrating the global market gradually.
Major achievement of Hights Enterprise Limited
“My work earned us recognition as Best Farmer-Based Organisation in the Upper East Region of Ghana in 2023,” he said.
It has empowered rural women and promoted environmentally friendly practices in agriculture. It also has an out-grower base of over 2,500 rural women farmers across the Upper East and North East Regions, of which most of them have been registered at the Ghana Cooperatives Department (GCD) and are all trained in organic farming practices. “Interestingly, we started with just three groups; and now we have 30 women groups – making over 2,000 individual women,” he said.
He also noted that the ability to empower more women to engage on meaningful businesses to earn a living by alleviating poverty has been one of the major achievement by the organisation. Also, this has put smiles on the women’s face, especially a lot of mothers, which would not have been possible if these women had no knowledge about organic farming.
Ways to improve entrepreneurship in Ghana
Mr. Akayeti said the mindset of the young ones is to go to school and get employed, but not turning their minds to actually creating jobs themselves and employ others. He, therefore, advocated for the restructuring of the educational system in Ghana, where the minds of the graduates can be well-developed to create jobs and employ others instead of waiting to finish school and get employed. “With the current system, it is not for you to graduate and wait for someone to employ you,” he said.
Challenges confronting entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector in Ghana
He noted that high interest rates continue to hinder the activities of entrepreneurs, saying “many agricultural entrepreneurs struggle to access credit from financial institutions due to high interest rates and stringent lending conditions.
“Also, most banks perceive agriculture as a high-risk sector, which makes it difficult for farmers and agribusiness start-ups to secure affordable loans. More so, many small-scale agribusinesses have limited access to market information, making it difficult for them to get fair prices for their products. This lack of market transparency leads to exploitation by middlemen. Climate change has led to irregular rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts and flooding, which directly affect agricultural productivity,” he said.
Vision for the next five years?
“To be a leading producer and exporter of the local raw materials and also expand the company to create more job opportunities for the youth and the vulnerable women in the rural areas especially. More so, to be able to have the local products at the various markets and supermarkets to encourage the patronage of locally made-in-Ghana goods which have nutritional value.”
Your relationship with the KIC
“There has been a cordial relationship with KIC, and their support has helped to develop the women as well as produce quality products to meet the market demand. It has helped to grow and sustain the business, thereby contributing to the development of the nation. It has also helped to produce quality products to meet international standards.”
Message to potential entrepreneurs
He encouraged people to cultivate the “Do things for yourself spirit”, which was what he employed, determined to make a difference in the society. He also advised the youth to identify their hidden talents and work on them while collaborating with existing entrepreneurs for more enhanced knowledge on the field.
With passion, discipline and determination, one can achieve the set goals without relying on government or the private sector for job opportunities which do not exist due to the growing population of the youth in the country.
