AgroCenta: 2017 in retrospection
Being our first operational year there’s really no other year to review. 2017 has been a great year for us. It had its fair share of tough moments that reminded us we were still in Ghana, Africa.
The just-in-time investment
We had it all figured out on both the demand and supply sides and only needed the oil to grease the gears. Cash. We needed cash to fulfill at least our first order or lose the contract. Luckily we got an investment at the last minute that helped us begin operations. We immediately shipped our first order and officially became a revenue generating company. You can’t imagine how excited we were that day. We worked hard and got follow on investment later in the year.
Winning — From Accra through Amman to Budapest
Hard work they say pays. 2017 gave us our fair share of rewards in terms of awards. We started off by winning this competition in Amman. We then won the Seedstars local event in Accra. Next up we placed second in another event organized by CTA in Abidjan. At the WEDF 2017 competition in Budapest we again came first. Just when we were wrapping up for end of year we won the World Summit awards in the Environment and Green Energy category.
Partnerships
We found ourselves in several conferences, summits and forums (sounds better than fora) throughout the year. A lot of these resulted in very meaningful partnerships from companies doing excellent work with tropical weather to truck sellers and manufacturers. A lot of these partnerships will translate into new business avenues in 2018.
One step back five steps forward
The two co-founders did a lot of roaming but we didn’t take the company along with us. Work was still going on. We were fulfilling orders as expected. Getting to the beginning of the third quarter we took a step back and did an assessment of progress. We let some people go, we also let some features in our products go to make room for better growth. The retrospection helped.
Planting right with PlantRite
As we fulfilled orders month on month we run into an interesting problem where our farmers could not meet the demand on our hands. We switched to plan B. We launched our out-grower program PlantRite to feed into our supply chain. We piloted with 400 acres and harvesting is currently ongoing. Will we do this again in 2018? Follow our progress on social media.
A new logo is born
We have a tall list of action items we are going to carry out in 2018. We are all pumped up for the new year with renewed energy and renewed drive. Backed with all this newness is a new corporate look.
We wish you a very prosperous new year. Let’s make history together.
