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This pretty unique crowd here this morning. We have Fortune 500 Companies, we have major
international financial institutions, we have senior officials with the Ghanaian government,
we have a really fabulous cross-section, of players and that is exactly what we were hoping
would happen, and it's great that this has come together. And as you have heard from
our colleagues here at Stanford SEED and the collaborators on this project, the idea here
is that there are more problems, and more opportunities, than any one organization can
take advantage of, pursue, or to solve. And so, because of the complexity of the problems
that have to be overcome to be successful in this context, and because of the fantastic
opportunities that are also available, the idea here today is to draw in your ideas,
your inputs. Not necessarily to a particular farm, but rather to a potential model for
general agribusiness zones and cities. So, with that introduction, just a few words by
way of introducing Africa Atlantic and the Africa Agribusiness Knowledge Centers, and
a bit of the process that we have gone through these last 3, 4, 5 years here in Ghana organizing
our business which we hope are useful lessons to stimulate thoughts and ideas about how
to make, and accelerate the process of succeeding in business, in this environment. As Bill
just said, starting a business anywhere in the world is difficult. I have started businesses
in the US and many of you have started businesses here in Ghana, US, Europe, or elsewhere. Issa,
based in Dubai. There is a lot of international experience here. Starting businesses is always
hard. There is a sense of urgency and there is a schedule if it's your capital. If it's
not your capital you are on a different schedule. And unfortunately, too often, in the context
of African economic development the leadership, honestly, comes from those of us not on a
particular schedule. And I mean no offense to anyone who represents those who maybe are
not on a schedule but if you are a private company... i have an analogy I like to use:
the fact that you're all here, you know that Africa is beautiful, you know that the people
of Ghana are fantastic people, you know and have seen in your own particular way the possibilities
and the potential that exists on this continent: it's absolutely fantastic. Africa is the future.
A few years ago when I first came to Ghana, the first thing I did was I spent 3 weeks
at GIMPA (the Ghana Institute of Management) and I was a strange bird, sitting there at
GIMPA. They said: why are you here? We have been trying for years to get into an American
business program, why are you here at the Ghana Institute of Management. I said because
they don't know about African business in American business schools. So this collaboration
is so critical, because it is a two way collaboration, any good collaboration is a Win-Win. If it
is a Win-Lose scenario it's going to fail. So we can't have winners and losers, we need
to create winner-winner scenarios. The objective here then is to try to come together and begin
to break down the complexity into manageable pieces so that there can be success. So with
that, just a few words about how we got here. Africa Atlantic Franchise Farms, first and
foremost just to introduce myself - Jon Vandenheuvel, CEO of Africa Atlantic Holdings. Africa Atlantic
Holdings is essentially the incubation investor in Africa Atlantic Franchise Farms, which
is a Ghanaian registered company. Dr. Appah is our local partner and the Chairman of Africa
Atlantic Franchise Farms. For the last number of years Africa Atlantic Holdings, along with
Africa Atlantic Franchise Farms as a team: we have been working day after day to work
through the complexity of developing a commercial farm. Kris Klokkenga, Managing Director, co-founder.
Kris and I met in 2008 when he was still with ADM. Kris had a vision. Kris's vision was,
he worked at ADM in processing. Kris said, "in processing of shea or cocoa, or things
like that, we at the processing side receive the inputs... but who is out there working
with the farmers to improve their productivity. Working with the farmers to become more efficient
and effective. This is honestly the reason we are here. Because Kris had a vision and
Dr. Appah had a vision, my partner Issa Balluch joined us very shortly there after and had
a similar vision and the idea was that things can work. Things can be successful. Issa built
a great logistics network based in Dubai that really connected points in Sub-Saharan Africa
to points around the world. He developed a network of offices in 18 African countries.
He helped develop the seaport, and airport in Dubai, working with the Dubai Ports World,
Emirates, and Sky Cargo to built a freight and logistics network over a 25 year period
that helped solve logistics problems. A lot of times people ask, why Issa Balluch and
logistics? Why is he involved in a farm? Well, besides the agronomy, farming is all about
logistics. There is a natural synergy. Take a look at a successful project in Africa and
I'm sure there are many different profiles of a successful project, but there aren't
many success stories. In our particular case, I think you can attribute our success so far
to the quality and the passion, perseverance, and persistence of the people. I think you
will probably find the you have to have the people, the capital, but you're only going
to have the capital if you have the right people and the right plan. You really need
to understand what you're getting into. Over these years, what Africa Atlantic has done
is: we are a Ghanaian registered company we formed in 2009
we have secured a 50 year land lease, title for agricultural development on 10,500 hectares
on Lake Volta Much of the subject matter of today's discussion
will be to really breakdown this particular land area and its proximity to Lake Volta,
one of the world's largest reservoirs. We have conducted 4 demonstration crop cycles.
One without irrigation, 3 with irrigation. Crops produced and sold locally in Ghana
We are engaged in and self funded in all-aspects of commercial scale farm in Ghana.
To our Stanford friends the business coaches who are teaching entrepreneurship what we're
excited about is the fact that Stanford is now here focused on entrepreneurship and these
are the steps we have had to go through. Ideally that whole process that we have gone through,
is very expensive, we've made many mistakes, can be accelerated through this kind of coaching.
I am really excited about that. Registering the business
Setting up management Legal, HR, and accounting systems
Complying with local and international legal requirements
Importing equipment through Ghana customs Transporting equipment and supplies to remote
areas Engaging local professional vendors and services
Acquiring land Clearing land
For cultivation Installing irrigation
Building a farm house and associated facilities Establishing large scale crop transport system
with Lake Volta River Authority Working very closely with Mark Hilles, who
is CEO of Volta Lake Transport company for the past few years.
Planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops Preparing the harvested crops for sale
Selling the harvested crops to international buyers
This process, and I point out these steps to point out that this is a closed cycle.
What we wanted to do is establish that this is the cycle, what are the weaknesses in that
cycle? This is what we have been involved in.
A picture is worth a thousand words. These are a few photographs of the early stage:
literally clearing the land. This is greenfield development. This is our first entry into
the land. Our base of operations Our first irrigated crop in April of 2012
Our demonstration farm has produced crops as I have mentioned.
And I now I would like to take a few minutes to talk about the key lessons learned as a
framework and a bit of an introduction to our friends here from MIT who will lead us
through today's discussion. Some key lessons learned:
what I want to describe for you is this risk dashboard.
When you come to Ghana as an investor you maybe have an idea as to what you can maybe
do. What you can accomplish.