A revolution is underway in Ghana’s Fintech/Agritech sector

One by one, the young entrepreneurs entered, eager to make an impression in front of the panel assembled by Absa and the Mastercard Foundation. These entrepreneurs, mostly from the Fintech and Agritech sectors in Ghana, had been allocated presentation slots of 15 minutes each to make the pitch of a lifetime.

The digital screen for the presentation appeared in the meeting room on the third floor of the Absa Mastercard Foundation offices at the Ridge in Accra. The projector beams were flashing, and the PowerPoint slides were cued and ready to roll. This was the scene of the Absa-Mastercard Foundation Fintech-Agritech Support Program pitch a few weeks ago.

Over the past three years, Absa Bank and the Mastercard Foundation have continued a formidable partnership to create impact in key sectors of Ghana’s economy, including SMEs, Fintechs, Agritechs and other complementary sectors.

The initiative is under the sponsorship of the Absa Mastercard Foundation partnership, designed to support young startups that innovate and create new things to boost the growth of Ghana’s economy.

The program provides a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs, looking for funding, to make their case to five tough business and corporate leaders. The program has a grant of GH¢2.5 million available to businesses in the Fintech and Agritech industries to build their capacity and make them viable in the medium to long term.

The GH¢2.5 million support also targets businesses that are either at the concept or scale-up stage, including businesses that use technology to improve financial services such as lending, payments, insurance, investment and education (financial literacy). To qualify, companies must be more than three years old, technically knowledgeable and with owners who are between 24 and 40 years old.

The pitch session was an interesting spectacle. It reflected a general sense of excitement and an eye-opening development happening in Ghana’s dynamic startup space. The presenters were grilled and had to justify their claims about efficiency, budget, end-to-end strength of their products and whether they had passed the Bank of Ghana’s regulatory sandbox test.

“We are strong believers in the potential of young Ghanaian businesses – including technology startups, MSMEs and others – to drive sustainable economic growth. We consider it an important social obligation to support and provide the right type of capital for these businesses, and we are delighted to have a willing partner in the Mastercard Foundation, says Audrey Abakah, Head of SME Banking at Absa.

The potential of digital technology and innovation to transform lives and create an enabling environment is at the heart of this initiative.

Innovative ideas sold during the pitching session included digitized agriculture, elimination of manual labor and use of robotics to increase productivity and multitasking. Others included precision agriculture, drone technology in agricultural spraying (organic fertilizers) and many more.

The Absa/Mastercard Fintech-Agritech program is a game changer in Ghana. It is proof that technology can be a powerful tool for transformation and should be harnessed to drive sustainable economic growth and empower the youth. The future of Ghana’s economy is in the hands of these young entrepreneurs and they must be supported and encouraged to reach new heights.

“We find this relationship with Absa bank very rewarding and impactful. It aligns perfectly with our ethos as a foundation with a mandate to create change across sub-Saharan Africa,” says Rosy Fynn, Country Director of the Mastercard Foundation.

In a world where innovation and technology drive growth and development, the Absa/Mastercard Foundation Fintech-Agritech Support Program is an industry-leading initiative that paves the way for young entrepreneurs to revolutionize the sector and transform the Ghanaian economy.

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