Stanbic Partners Pears & Israeli Embassy to Enhance Ghana’s Agric Value Chain

Stanbic Bank Ghana has partnered with the Pears Program for Global Innovation, the Israeli Embassy in Ghana, and The Israeli Trade Mission to Ghana to host this year’s Pears Challenge Pitching and Networking Event.

The event, which brought together stakeholders and startups in agriculture, aimed at unearthing solutions to some of the challenges facing Ghana’s agriculture sector.

Speaking at the event, Ben Mensah, Head of Consumer High Net Worth Stanbic Bank, emphasized the bank’s commitment to supporting the growth of Ghana through agriculture.

He said, “In Ghana, agriculture is the most pivotal sector that has supported our food security and provided jobs for millions.

At Stanbic Bank, we always say Ghana is our home and we drive her growth and what better way to support national growth than investing in the agricultural industry? As a bank, we have a fully-fledged business unit that is dedicated to agric businesses and for a number of years, we have been financing a number of opportunities and needs within that space.”

He continued, “The Pears Program is quite timely as the Ministry of Agriculture is looking at adopting smarter ways of farming to increase our food production and promote sustainable farming practices. And we are glad to be a part of this initiative.”

A member of the Trade and Economic Mission of Israel in Ghana, Kirk Amoah, who represented the Israeli Ambassador, was optimistic that the event will create relevant business partnerships between Israeli businesses and players in the Ghanaian agriculture sector.

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He said, “I am grateful to Stanbic Bank for partnering with us for this event. We are here with the Pears team to help them create partnerships with relevant stakeholders for their business here in Ghana. We hope to engage more Ghanaian partners on their interest in Israel and other activities with regard to agriculture.

Next year AgriTech, which is the biggest agricultural and technology convention is happening in Israel and we will love to have many Ghanaians there with us.”

On her part, the Head of Agribusiness at Stanbic Bank, Lilian Bazaar, took the opportunity to share the bank’s commitment to supporting agriculture in Ghana with various products designed to support the needs of farmers in the country.

She said “I am excited by the pitches presented this evening. They were very innovative ideas and I hope that when it is getting to the commercializing stage, Stanbic Bank will be a partner in expanding and implementing these technologies.

Our 40 branches are always open to you and ready to assist with our many products designed for farmers and people in agriculture including post-harvest technology finance and agricultural production loans. We look forward to working with all of you.”

The Pears Challenge is a Venture Builder that grows new Israeli technology startups to respond to challenges in emerging markets. The 2022 Pears Challenge cohort focused on the Ghanaian agriculture and food sectors and has grown five new innovative startups that address critical challenges in the market.