Project Update: Horticulture Business Callenge (HBC) – Week 4 & 5

“So far, my HBC experience has been nothing but spectacular. I did not expect the internship to be this hands-on. I get to solve real business problems, and I get to learn new skills as well as put into practice the knowledge of what I learned in school. One month into the internship, and I have already learned so much.” This was the response from an HBC participant when asked what the internship experience has been for her so far, and similar comments have been made by the HBC participants. 

The Horticulture Business Challenge (HBC) is in the 4th and 5th week and has picked up great momentum for both participants and participating companies. Here is an overview of the participating companies and some of the milestones that the interns have chalked so far. 

Horticulture Business Platform

Horticulture Business Platform (HBP) is a membership-based initiative that brings together farmers, agribusiness SMEs, input suppliers, and other value chain actors to promote sustainable horticultural development in Ghana. In line with its mission, HBP, in collaboration with the GNBCC and with technical support from Holland Greentech, has established a commercial demonstration and training farm at West African Senior High School (WASS) in Adenta. The success of this project depends not only on high-quality production but also on market access and sales execution. 

Since this is a new venture, there is no existing buyer network or sales framework. The task of the HBC interns assigned to this business case is to address the challenge of market access and sales by executing a strategy to identify, reach, and sell produce, and minimize post-harvest losses. Additionally, they are to collect production data to support financial analysis and contribute to the long-term scalability of the HBP demo farm model. By the end of weeks 4 & 5 of the internship, the HBP interns had built traceability systems to track produce from the farm after participating in the transplanting of lettuce and cucumber seedlings at WASS’s demo farm. They had also prepared off-taker agreements and met with potential partners to discuss logistics and procurement details, even before the vegetables are harvested. 

Verte Tower

Verte Tower (VT) is a hydroponics startup in Ghana developing low-cost, open-field vertical hydroponics systems for households and commercial growers in urban and peri-urban areas. In the face of climate change, VT has developed a robust farming technology that minimizes the use of agricultural inputs and maximizes agricultural yield.

Verte Tower seeks to pilot urban communal vertical hydroponics gardens; shared green spaces where residents grow and sell fresh produce using Verte Tower systems, as well as expand the sales of its growing modules. Their interns’ challenges are to carry out market research to understand VT’s business model and plan and execute sales expansion strategy for the hydroponic modules. At weeks 4 & 5, the interns prospected restaurants, malls, real estates, municipal assemblies and communal gardens to seek partnerships and to also sell their hydroponic modules and fresh produce.

Holland GreenTech Ghana 

Holland Greentech (HGT) is a leading provider of seeds, greenhouse technology, soil and water analysis, substrate and soil improvement, integrated pest control, and technical advisory services for horticultural production across Ghana. The company also supports small, medium, and large-scale farmers with modern irrigation solutions, including drip irrigation, sprinkler systems, and both quantitative and proportional fertigation systems. However, scaling irrigation services sustainably while maintaining technical performance and client satisfaction presents operational and commercial challenges. 

Despite their strong technical expertise, HGT’s Irrigation & Greenhouse Technical Division faces structural challenges with inconsistent post-installation system performance monitoring, poor preventive maintenance culture on irrigation farms, and an underdeveloped after-sales services model of their irrigation systems. Their interns are therefore tasked with developing a digital irrigation software/toolkit to monitor and track irrigation installation system performance. They are also to develop a structured monetized service model for all after-sales maintenance services of the technical division. The HBC interns have already started work on building a website solution for HGT and have made progress in developing the backend and frontend of the website. They have also cleaned and refined the existing irrigation sales datasets, making it easy for the Irrigation & Greenhouse Technical Division to collect, and manage sales data from farmers.

Health Cave

Health Cave Limited (HC) is a newly established  natural juice brand that promotes nutritious eating while supporting local farmers within the horticulture value chain by sourcing fresh, locally grown produce. They are positioned as a one-stop shop for healthy natural drinks and juices. 

However, as a new venture, HC has no established market presence and therefore seeks to implement a phased digital marketing strategy to build brand visibility, drive engagement, and convert engagements into sales. Interns at Health Cave are helping build a strong digital presence through content creation and digital marketing. They have through brand collaborations with brands like Ampem Darkoa Foundation and through initiatives such as donations at Ghanata Senior High School for BECE candidates have created a strong brand identity and impact.

Friday Training Workshop with Holland GreenTech 

Last Friday, the HBC interns converged at Defarmercist Center of Excellence in a training session facilitated by Holland Green Tech. At the center of excellence, participants had a tour of the  5-acre facility at the University of Ghana’s Legon campus. Led by Ibrahim Yasir Arafat, they explored the greenhouse units, open-field plots, and solar-powered irrigation system, designed for commercial training and modern agronomic practices. 

There were a series of interactive presentations that followed the tour: CEO of Verte Tower, Georgina Boamah, an alumnus of HBC, together with her co-founder and CFO Jennifer Oppong – Danquah on Sustainable Vertical Farming. Roland Dela Diabo, an agronomist at Holland GreenTech also led a presentation on Modern Vegetable Farming: How the application of improved technologies, scientific methods and good agricultural practices produce high quality vegetables efficiently and sustainably. 

Afterwards, there was practical training where participants prepared a nursery bed and learned how to install drip line irrigation systems for vertical gardens. These sessions were facilitated by Afia Adobea-Owusu Asare, irrigation engineer and Elvis Quartey from Holland GreenTech.

Conclusion

A word of caution to the participants is that it would be improper to jubilate and relax after having come this far while implementing their business case solutions. The archenemy of success is complacency, and they should not become comfortable with the progress they have made so far. They should strive harder and finish the few weeks left of the internship.