Kosmos Innovation Center Wins Prestigious 2018 P3 Impact Award

September 26, 2018

The Kosmos Innovation Center in Ghana has been named winner of the prestigious P3 Impact Award for 2018, which was announced September 25 at the Concordia Summit in New York City. The annual award was created by Concordia in partnership with the U.S. State Department’s Office of Global Partnerships and University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business to recognize excellence in public-private partnerships that support economic growth and other needs in developing countries.

Kosmos Energy Ghana's George Sarpong, third from right, holding the 2018 P3 Impact Award trophy after the announcement at the Concordia Summit in New York City. Alongside are DAI's Dipika Chawla, second from right, and Thomas Debass, far right, of the U.S. Department of State. Photo: @ConcordiaSummit

The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) was established in 2016 by Kosmos Energy with assistance from DAI’s Sustainable Business Group. The KIC assists young entrepreneurs and small businesses from across Ghana to develop their ideas and business plans for improving Ghana’s agribusiness sector, including by leveraging information and communications technology. The project proved an immediate success, with the number of applicants for the program increasing from 100 in 2016 to 576 this year.

To date, the KIC team has provided business training and technical assistance for more than 280 young innovators, who then compete for seed funding in KIC’s AgriTech Challenge. KIC has also helped launch nine startups, sending the most promising companies each year to the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology, a Ghana-based business incubator. Kosmos has invested $200,000 in seed funding and leveraged an additional $1 million in seed funding and growth capital from external funders. Some of the startups that received funding include:

• Trotro Tractor, a mobile platform that connects farmers in need of mechanized equipment to local tractor operators.
• AgroInnova, an enterprise management system for poultry farmers to record, monitor and track operations in real time.
• QualiTrace, a mobile anti-counterfeiting solution that helps farmers authenticate agrochemicals at point-of-sale.
• AgroCenta, a web platform that connects small-holder farmers to markets and transport services.

Dallas-based Kosmos Energy launched the KIC to promote youth empowerment, innovation, economic diversification, and entrepreneurship. In a marked departure from traditional approaches to corporate social responsibility programs and indeed many entrepreneurship programs globally, KIC utilizes a full lifecycle approach to support young Ghanaians throughout their entrepreneurial journey—from ideation, to launch, pivots, and growth. The KIC uses a combination of technical assistance, a competition model, and impact investing to create a new breed of young entrepreneurs who are accelerating Ghana’s economic growth, creating wealth and jobs, and positively impacting Ghanaian society. KIC also aims to re-shape young people’s perceptions and enhance their interest in developing traditional sectors through innovation.

The nonprofit Concordia organization promotes cross-sector and public-private partnerships for social impact and global affairs forums that promote partnering between governments, businesses, and nonprofits to address pressing global needs.

DAI’s Sustainable Business Group supports private companies to be smarter corporate citizens in their local business operations and assists public authorities to develop policy, regulation, and incentives that grow sustainable industries.