Over 150 stakeholders from leading agribusiness firms, commercial, rural and community banks, impact investors, non-bank financial institutions, government ministers and development partners have participated in the Ghana Agribusiness Investment Summit 2014, held in Accra.

Organized by USAID Ghana’s Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (FinGAP) and Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s (MOFA) Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP), the Ghana Agribusiness Investment Summit 2014 is the first of its kind: an investment summit that showcases immediate and viable agribusiness investment opportunities in Ghana’s high-demand value-chains of rice, maize and soy.

A release from the Public Affairs section of the United States (US) Embassy in Accra said the key objectives of the Summit were to present concrete information and analysis on agribusiness investment opportunities in Ghana and to connect investors, financial institutions and relevant stakeholders in order to share information and do more business.

Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Clement Kofi Humado and the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Gene Cretz, participated, as well as Ghana’s Deputy Ministers of Finance, and Trade and Industry along with other high-level US government representatives and CEOs of leading agribusiness firms.

The release quoted Ambassador Cretz as having noted that, “Agriculture is the engine of Ghana’s economic growth, and full private sector participation is the fuel for that engine.”

Francis Kalitsi of Serengeti Capital, an Africa-focused investment advisory firm with offices in London and Accra, which also participated in the summit observed, “Ghana has a very attractive investment environment and the summit is exactly the kind of event we look for to connect with firms, discover opportunities and make deals”.

The release indicated that the Summit’s agenda included opportunities for networking with a variety of investors and managers from investment funds, commercial banks, development finance institutions, and government representatives who could make those projects a reality.

The Summit also provided an opportunity to learn first-hand from business leaders across Ghana who are experts in the field, it added.

“We have worked with stakeholders across Ghana to identify profitable opportunities and we presented these at the summit,” said Rick Dvorin, Chief of Party of USAID FinGAP.

There was also an unveiling of an innovative online investment opportunity map to help investors see key data points relevant to successful projects.