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Diaspora Entrepreneur Stories: Meet Richard Dickens Agbenyo from Ghana

What does your dream business in Ethiopia/Ghana look like?

I see myself running the most efficient , mechanized self sustaining commercial farm in Ghana, with products that Ghanaian’s can be proud of as their very own, and with responsibility towards the environment and sharing that knowledge with the youth creating a win win for all, qua consumer responsibility and the environment. There is a need for food security and as a businessman and farmer it’s my passion to contribute to the agricultural sector.

What are the assessed needs for setting up your business? (I.e.Partners, co-founders, tools/assets, funding)

we have already acquired 52 acres of arable land. Now we need hard assets –  and funding , so namely equipment/machinery, and the working capital.

What impact does your business make (to local communities/creating employment/environment/economic development?

My business would address unemployment issues in the community, as well train/empower the youth within the community to become more responsible towards the environment through workshops and obvious improve the economic standing of the socioeconomic development.

How does your business benefit the country of implementation Ghana?

Overall based on the large scale in which l wish to farm and  develop my business to, it would save the national economy a lot on foreign exchange example high importation tax and levies  which currently takes away from areas like health care and education

How does your business benefit the Netherlands?

The Netherlands would benefit from fresh delivery of vegetables as that area would be the second phase of my Farming project. I would foster business relationship with the supermarket here in the Netherlands to which products I can supply them with. This is actually my main goal next to helping the local community.

How is this startup boot camp helping you?

I’m networking greatly with potential entrepreneur who can be partners . It has impacted my life in getting a helicopter view of my business.

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Entrepreneurship by Diaspora 4 Development(ED4D): Promoting and facilitating diaspora entrepreneurship in Ghana and Ethiopia

On September 7th, 2019 we kicked off IOM’s entrepreneurship by diaspora for development with a group of 40 entrepreneurs from Ghana & Ethiopia. The ED4D project aims at encouraging the Ghanaian and Ethiopian diasporas residing in the Netherlands, or Dutch entrepreneurs in partnership with the diaspora, to engage themselves as entrepreneurs for the development of the private sector in Ghana and Ethiopia.

Zidicircle is honored to conduct the training to enable the entrepreneurs harness their business models and become investor ready in order to expand or set up their businesses back home. We believe in initiatives that promote social economic development in both the hosts countries and countries of origin. The ED4D programme is therefore very well aligned with our mission.

Sectors

The entrepreneurs from Ethiopia have businesses in Food processing,  Retail, Manufacturing, E-commerce, IT, Agriculture,  Services, waste management, Food processing Retail and Tourism Sectors.

The entrepreneurs from Ghana have businesses in Agriculture, Education/Tech, Energy, Entertainment, Food processing, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail, Sand mining, Services, Solar energy and Waste Management .

Our Resources

We have a large pool of very experienced tutors who are also entrepreneurs. So they blend in their skills with really practical examples from their own experience. For example one of our tutors is a respected mining engineer in the Netherlands- He literally mines ideas our of people:-). We also have business design experts who have helped large multinationals become more innovative, global leadership managers as well as seasoned investment experts. We believe financing a lone cannot grow businesses, but you need the right people with the right skills driving those businesses. That is why we want our entrepreneurs to be well prepared for investments.

What Next?

The training boot camp will end on the 28th September 2019 with a pitch event between 14.00 to 17.00. The entrepreneurs will have gotten all the knowledge and skills. But they need much more; they need partners, they need co-founders, they need Tools like machinery or Technology, and most importantly they need the Funding.

Do you see yourself as a good match to these entrepreneur? Please register by sending an email to info@zidicircle.com. Lets make an impact together!

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