Some 200 young Ghanaians, including women and persons with disability, have gathered at the University of Ghana to begin a five-day entrepreneurship bootcamp focused on agrifood innovation, marking the launch of the second cohort of the Nkabom Venture Quest.

The participants, drawn from ten universities across the country, will receive training in design thinking, innovation, entrepreneurship, storytelling, climate-smart agriculture, and financial management. They will also visit selected agribusinesses to gain first-hand exposure to industry operations. 

The bootcamp is organized by the Nkabom Collaborative at University of Ghana, a Mastercard Foundation-backed initiative working in partnership with McGill University to transform Ghana's agri-food systems by equipping young people with entrepreneurial skills and connecting them to market opportunities. 

Speaking at the launch, Professor Richmond Aryeetey, Team Lead for the Nkabom Collaborative at University of Ghana, challenged participants to reframe how they see the country's agrifood sector. "The real gold of our time is not beneath our feet; it is all around us," he said. "It is in what we grow, what we process, what we eat, and how we nourish our people." 

Pierre Brunache, Director of the Secretariat of the Nkabom Collaborative at McGill University, used the occasion to call for deeper collaboration among government, academia and the private sector. He noted that Ghana's agri-food sector is currently valued at approximately $10 billion, representing 36 percent of GDP, and is projected to reach $13 billion within five years, an opportunity he argued must be anchored in the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

"It's not Google, Amazon and Apple that make the U.S. what it is," Brunache said. "It's a small company. You have to emphasize SMEs, because it's the SME that eventually grows to become a large company."

This year's Nkabom Venture Quest builds on the momentum of the Community Roadshow Network, the initiative's inaugural bootcamp held in 2025, through which over 50 student ventures have already been launched. 

The Nkabom Collaborative at University of Ghana is part of a broader partnership spanning five local institutions, alongside the Mastercard Foundation and McGill University. At its core, the initiative prioritizes expanded access for underrepresented groups, including women, persons with disability and internally displaced persons in Ghana's agrifood sector.