The potential in African backyards
Entrepreneurs Testimonials #4 — David Asare Asiamah, Founder of Agro Mindset
Bridge for Billions is the online incubator for early-stage entrepreneurs globally to launch successful businesses, by enabling them to structure and refine their ideas step by step with a mentor.
Today, we are putting the light on David Asare Asiamah, one of our first pilot projects to complete Bridge for Billions’ incubation process.
David lives in Kumasi, Ghana, and created Agro Mindset, a firm that facilitates youth engagement in agribusinesses. It promotes the engagement of youth in agriculture by helping them acquire knowledge and skills to meet industry expectations. Agro Mindset is both an agribusiness education program and a model production farm, to assist promising young farmers and new small-scale farms. From David’s own words, Agro Mindset “helps people to realize the opportunities and potential that exists in our backyard.”
David’s Bridge for Billions journey
David started Agro Mindset as a 3rd year undergraduate student, realizing the vast professional opportunities in agriculture in Ghana. Looking for support to kick-start his venture, he soon realized that the mentoring offer for young entrepreneurs was very limited: “I found it difficult to find business mentors that didn’t cost a fortune. And there is a keen competition for people to get on fellowships […]. Those who don’t make it still have good ideas. Bridge for Billions has been different from the start.”
David heard about us through a friend and thought that an external point of view might bring him fresh insight and ideas. Bingo! “Bridge for Billions has provided me with a team of online Support Agents who have helped me more than some of my own local teammates in developing my business plan. Their background and way of reasoning has been very beneficial to me.” He confesses.
About the skills he acquired from his 3-months journey, David emphasizes the learning through the first tools: “Creating a unique value proposition for each customer segment and understanding the competitors for each has been a good structure to think about my business. The value proposition is what will keep a customer returning to do business, and this is key to our sustainability and posterity.”
He also highlights the structure that the platform provided him: “I was everywhere, doing everything; I now have a growth plan which I am working to adhere to.” In September 2015, right after finishing Bridge for Billions’ incubation program, Agro Mindset made strategic business and investment decisions. They acquired ownership of a new 15-acre farm land fully funded from their first-year earnings, relocating and expanding their operations, developing irrigation and allocating funds for research and development with green pepper.
As final words, we ask David how he would describe the entrepreneurial adventure overall and the support he received. “Building a company from scratch is hard. As a man, I believe, entrepreneurship could be the closest thing man has to giving birth. […] Nevertheless it’s been an inspiring journey growing a nonprofit to a limited liability company. Bridge for Billions made me realize certain things I took for granted in business, and it works.”
In December 2015, David won the Future Awards for African agriculture, sometimes described as the “Nobel Prize for Young African Entrepreneurs”… Bridge for Billions could not be any prouder!
Learn more about Agro Mindset on their website
Interested in our online incubator? Want to evaluate and develop your business ideas or support promising entrepreneurs with your skills? Apply to our program at bridgeforbillions.org and keep an eye open on our Twitter and Facebook feeds!
