Soya industry attracts attention of Venture Capital Trust Fund

The Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) wants a substantial portion of its Agricultural Fund to go into soya value chain.

The Fund’s Board recently approved the Gh20million facility to promote agricultural financing.

According to Chief Executive Officer of the Trust Fund, Daniel Duku, there are potentials in the soya industry which requires adequate funding.

“That is why we will be convincing the Board to allocate a portion of the Agric Fund to the soya industry,” he said.

The VCTF established the Soya Value Chain Project with the objective of financing seed germination and production of soya beans for the poultry industry.

The initiative targets nucleus farmers, out-growers and farmer-based organizations to build partnerships with key institutions, especially incubators and centres of innovation, to promote entrepreneurship.

Oil miller, Kwasi Akomea Kyemanteng, has his company processing soya beans into soya cake and oil to mainly serve the local poultry industry.

He says there are dire constraints in the soya value chain, including access to soya beans as raw material for processing, power crisis and the preference of poultry farmers to source foreign feed.

“Ghana should put in place policies that will ensure the value chain in Ghana works,” he said.

It has been observed farmers prefer growing maize and cowpea due to the pricing advantage compared to the low prices of soya.

 

To promote soya production, the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has a critical role to play in the entire value chain.

Increasing the linkage between research, farmers and extension remains critical to improve production levels, says Dr. Stephen Amoah, research scientist at the CRI.

His Institute has been developing improved crop varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases and others that are resistant or tolerant to shattering, which is a major production constraint.

Dr. Amoah says provision of adequate information to farmers and extension requires regular funding sources to sustain the service.

The Venture Capital Trust Fund is seeking an alliance with the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) to grow the agriculture sector.

“There is the need for us to be able to work together. We have started this initiation with the Minister [of Agriculture] who is quite enthused and optimistic that this can grow. So all sectors of agric is going to be looked at with this alliance,” Mr. Duku stated.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Venture Capital Trust Fund partners academia to aid graduate entrepreneurs

The Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) is seeking partnerships with academia to resource graduates with the requisite knowledge and skills to succeed as entrepreneurs.

The Ghanaian government established the Trust Fund in 2004 to provide financial resources to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

However young graduates continue to complain of lack of finance to start their businesses.

Chief Executive Officer of the VCTF, Daniel Duku, has disclosed to Luv Biz Report an arrangement with the KNUST Business School to support graduates in career development.

According to him, the agreement will ensure graduates are directly assisted in preparing CVs, business plans “and how they can get sponsorship as entrepreneurs”.

Companies under venture capital funding are encouraged to invest in all sectors of the economy, but not businesses engaged in imports to sell.

The maximum funding limit is 15% of a company’s total capitalization and a minimum of $25,000.

Mr. Duku has encouraged graduates with bright business ideas to access opportunities under the Ghana Angel Investors Network (GAIN).

“We’ve had institutional investors and high networked individuals as angels and people that have come out of the university who have good business plans and ideas to pitch [proposals] to the angel investors and if they are interested in your project they will assist you”, he stated.

The GAIN was initiated by the VCTF in 2011. The scheme provides mentorship and other support to entrepreneurs who succeed in closing a deal with the angel investors.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghana’s green economy to thrive with ‘Impact Investing’

The future of business investments in Ghana should move in the direction of ventures that add value to the local eco-system, says the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF).

The Fund is at the forefront of promoting ‘impact investing’, a concept that accommodate a strategy for creating positive social and environmental impact beyond financial return.

It challenges private investors and entrepreneurs to develop innovative businesses to deliver effective and lasting solutions. Focal areas include sustainable agriculture, education, healthcare, housing, water and sanitation and employment generation.

Percival Ofori Ampomah, Head of Fund Investments at the Venture Capital Trust Fund explains that impact investing is synonymous with social entrepreneurship, which is critical in building a green economy.

“The impact investing angle is actually looking at sustainable businesses and one of them is green economies; sustainable energy, resources, and sustainable funding for energy among others, so it’s an assets class that needs to be invested in if you want to build a proper green economy”, he told Luv Biz Report.

 

Mr. Amponsah enjoined financial service providers to positively screen business investments with viable social impact as conditions in advancing financing.

According to a research conducted by The Rockefeller Foundation and JP Morgan, the impact investment market offers the potential of $400billion to $1trillion over the next ten years. The value in Africa is estimated at $297 million.

This is the driving force behind the VCTF’s decision to promote impact investing in Ghana.

The Fund has been engaging investors and policy makers in Kumasi to discuss the concept of impact investing in Ghana. The objective is to facilitate private capital into businesses that can transform lives in Ghana.

 

Chief Executive Officer of the VCTF, Daniel Duku, says the Fund is continually combing the world for institutional investors to support its mandate of providing low-cost long term financing to small and medium scale enterprises.

The VCTF is collaborating with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to establish the Centre for Impact Investing later this month.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh