Ghana's Ababio Kwame Of GREEN AFRO-PALMS Wins Young Entrepreneur 2016

Ababio Kwame founder of Green Afro-Palms (GAP) was adjudged winner of the Young Entrepreneurship award 2016 for Ghana at the just ended young innovators award of Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) 2016.

The Fifth RUFORUM Biennial Conference and African Higher Education Week, was held on 17-21 October, 2016 at the Century City Conference Center in Cape Town, South Africa where Ababio Kwame a young farmer deploying entrepreneurial potentials in his venture took the award for Ghana during the gathering.

The RUFORUM Biennial Conference and African Higher Education weeks are held every two years to bring together higher education stakeholders, including postgraduate students. The focus is on strengthening the fundamentals for inclusive and sustainable growth through integration of science and technology.

This year’s theme was on “Linking Agricultural Universities with Civil Society, the private Sector, Governments and other Stakeholders in support of Agricultural Development in Africa”. The Conference brought together over 600 participants to discuss and recommend how to strengthen higher agricultural education in Africa.

This year’s Young African Entrepreneurs Competition attracted a total of 756 applicants from 38 African countries and after 2,463 reviews within two months RUFORUM announced the 15 winners for 2016.

Green Afro-Palms was the winning enterprise for Ghana. Green Afro-Palms (GAP, www.facebook.com/greenafropalms) is a registered company created in 2012 in Ghana and has specialized in the Palm oil value chain from production to oil extraction, sales and marketing of palm oil. It has a variety of products including: Palm kernel oil, Palm fiber cake, and Palm kernels---see,

With product lines being under development, the firm is currently led by Ababio Kwame, a young and dynamic entrepreneur. The company’s model is built around joint venture with palm oil farmers who benefit from the company’s clean planting materials and extension services and guaranteed market program.

GAPs activities including farm management, agro-processing, education and sensitization are aimed at achieving quality and sustainability in agriculture specifically oil palm. Refineries, soap manufacturers, individual retailers of palm oil products, farmers and oil palm processors are part of the company’s clientele.

The company employs permanent employees in addition to a management team of 4 qualified young individuals. Kwame Ababio, the company’s founder who is a recipient of several local and international entrepreneurship awards stated after his award; his excitement based on the fact that the potentials of entrepreneurship for Agriculture in Africa is given attention and called on all stakeholders to join in lifting Africa through Agriculture.

African countries have shown strong economic performance during the last decade. From 2002 to 2008, Average GDP growth in Africa was 6.4 percent (World Bank, 20151) with this tread continuing into 2015. Improved democratization, governance, and the increased role of the private sector, has underpinned this improved performance. The contribution of agriculture to GDP in Africa remains high, on average contributing over 30%.

The World Bank (2013) projects that by 2030, agriculture and agribusiness will have grown to a US$1 trillion business, from a current US$313 billion today and should be a priority concern for the development agenda on the Continent. RUFORUM is committed to catalyzing the transformation of universities to produce skilled, proactive graduates and research relevant to smallholder farmers and sustainable rural development.