Ghana’s agribusiness community will converge at the Accra International Conference Centre on October 13–14, 2025 for the Eligreen Women and Youth Agribusiness Exhibition Summit (EWAYES 25) – a national platform designed to turn smallholder grit and entrepreneurial ambition into bankable, market-ready agribusinesses.
Organised by the Eligreen Agribusiness Hub with partners including Ghana EXIMBANK, Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industries and the Presidential Initiative in Agribusiness and Agriculture (PIAA), EWAYES 25 is purpose-built to confront – and solve – the barriers that keep women and young people from scaling in Ghana’s US$12billion agribusiness sector.
The big picture
Agriculture remains the backbone of livelihood for millions of Ghanaians, yet the full promise of agribusiness is often trapped by limited access to finance, technology and reliable markets.
EWAYES 25 tackles this head-on under the theme ‘Breaking Barriers: Securing Market and Financial Access for Women and Youth in Agribusiness’. By centring women, young agripreneurs and persons with disabilities (PWDs), the summit aligns with national priorities on inclusive growth and industrialisation while advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1, 5, 8, 13 and 15).
According to organisers, Ghana’s agribusiness value – US$12 billion in 2023 – could reach US$18billion by 2030 if persistent structural constraints are addressed. EWAYES 25 is engineered as a catalytic intervention: convening buyers, processors, financiers, donors, policymakers and innovators under one roof to accelerate investment, technology adoption and market linkages across the value chain.
What is different about EWAYES 25?
EWAYES 25 is not designed as just another ceremonial gathering where stakeholders exchange pleasantries and leave with little more than brochures. Instead, it deliberately breaks the mold of conventional trade fairs and conferences by offering a carefully blended programme that integrates exhibitions, B2B investment forums, policy dialogues, agripreneurial workshops and agribusiness development training.
Every component has been engineered with one outcome in mind: to ensure participants walk away with tangible deals, fundable plans and measurable results that endure long after the summit has ended.
A cornerstone of the programme is finance access. Many promising agribusiness ideas stall at the seed stage due to lack of funding or inadequate preparation for formal investment. To address this, EWAYES 25 will host funding clinics where entrepreneurs can sit face-to-face with banks, investors and export-finance institutions.
Beyond simply pitching, participants will receive mentorship on how to restructure their ideas into ventures that meet the rigorous demands of capital providers. This track is designed to demystify the financing process, turning the “access to credit” dream into a concrete reality.
Equally vital is market access, which remains a persistent bottleneck for women and youth in agriculture. The summit introduces a structured buyer-supplier matchmaking system, where farmers, processors and cooperatives will be connected directly with aggregators, exporters and digital trading platforms. These sessions go beyond introductions; they are curated to foster agreements that guarantee fair prices, steady demand and long-term partnerships. For many participants, such linkages could mark the transition from subsistence-level operations to sustained commercial activity.
The third pillar is technology access, which recognises that innovation is no longer a luxury but a necessity for competitiveness. Through interactive demonstrations, participants will experience how solar-powered processing units can extend shelf life, how efficient irrigation systems can optimise scarce water resources and how mobile-based advisory tools can deliver real-time weather forecasts and pricing information. These are not theoretical models but practical, ready-to-adopt technologies designed to cut costs, reduce post-harvest losses and raise overall efficiency in the value chain.
Finally, the summit emphasises skills and scale, equipping agripreneurs with the knowledge needed to professionalise and expand their ventures. Clinics will cover the nuts and bolts of cooperative governance, record-keeping, branding and digital marketing. Participants will also explore climate-smart practices that safeguard both productivity and sustainability in the face of changing weather patterns. By mastering these skills, attendees are expected to not only survive in the agribusiness ecosystem but also thrive, scale and compete in domestic and international markets.
Who will be in the room
EWAYES 25 targets 5,000 participants across the ecosystem – women and youth agripreneurs; SMEs; local processors; aggregators; exporters; international buyers; development partners; financial institutions; academia; NGOs; donor agencies; traditional authorities; local government; and media. The deliberate mix is strategic: policy-shapers meet practitioners; financiers meet pipelines; innovators meet demand. It’s the density of connections – not just the headcount – that makes the summit an event of consequence.
Designed for outcomes
Unlike many conferences that end with lofty speeches and unfulfilled promises, the Eligreen Women and Youth Agribusiness Exhibition Summit (EWAYES 25) has been carefully designed to produce measurable results. Organisers have set bold and trackable targets that ensure the two-day gathering leaves a lasting footprint across Ghana’s agribusiness landscape.
The vision is ambitious but grounded in reality. By close of the summit, at least seventy percent of participating women and youth are expected to either start or expand profitable enterprises in areas such as production, processing and agri-services. This means the skills, connections and tools gained during the event are not merely academic but immediately actionable.
Equally important is the creation of strong market linkages. More than sixty percent of beneficiaries are expected to be connected directly to formal buyers, aggregators and digital marketplaces. This deliberate matchmaking between producers and markets will tackle one of the biggest hurdles facing smallholder farmers – access to consistent, reliable demand.
Organisers are also tackling the chronic problem of post-harvest losses, which currently rob farmers of both income and opportunity. Through improved processing and storage solutions introduced at the summit, post-harvest losses are projected to be reduced by as much as forty percent. To support this, over fifty demonstration farms and incubation sites will be established across target regions, serving as both training grounds and practical hubs for innovation.
The summit is not stopping at training alone. It plans to distribute 10,000 input kits – complete with improved seeds, organic fertiliser and affordable tools – to ensure participants leave equipped to apply what they have learned. A further hundred digital training sessions covering ICT, e-commerce and market intelligence will give agripreneurs the technical edge required to thrive in a competitive marketplace.
Finally, organisers are determined to strengthen collective action by supporting the formation of two hundred cooperatives. These groups will receive governance training and ongoing business-to-business support, ensuring they remain functional and profitable beyond the summit.
Policy meets practice
The summit’s technology track showcases solar-powered dryers and processors, irrigation kits and digital advisory and trading tools – practical innovations that smallholders can adopt immediately. By mainstreaming energy-efficient processing and water-smart cultivation, EWAYES 25 ties productivity gains directly to climate resilience and cost savings. The result: higher-quality outputs, longer shelflife and a stronger negotiating position in domestic and export markets.
Real transformation requires policy and market reforms that outlive any two-day gathering. That’s why high-level policy dialogues – featuring government agencies, development partners and private-sector leaders – run alongside the B2B and technical tracks. The goal is to fast-track enabling frameworks on gender-responsive finance, aggregation and storage infrastructure, digital marketplaces, input access and incentives for value addition. Stakeholders will interrogate bottlenecks and surface implementable policy actions that can be monitored after the summit.
Women and youth at the heart of transformation
In Ghana’s agricultural landscape, women and youth are more than participants – they are the true growth-engine. Women sustain production, processing and trade in countless rural communities, yet their potential is stifled by limited access to inputs, credit, land, modern technology and reliable networks.
Youth, on the other hand, bring unmatched energy, digital fluency and a willingness to take risks, but too often they are shut out of formal finance and structured markets. The Eligreen Women and Youth Agribusiness Exhibition Summit (EWAYES 25) is designed to address these dual realities head-on. It serves as a bridge, offering skills, tools and opportunities that can transform untapped potential into thriving, sustainable enterprises.
The summit has been carefully structured to deliver practical value every step of the way. Exhibitions and showcases will present improved seeds, organic inputs and affordable processing equipment, demonstrating how quality and margins can be raised across the value chain. Business-to-business and investment forums will go a step further, creating curated sessions where entrepreneurs move beyond pitching to securing purchase orders and off-take agreements, while financiers assess bankable models on the spot.
Workshops and mentorship sessions will provide hands-on guidance in financial literacy, pricing, brand development, quality standards and export readiness – ensuring participants leave with knowledge that can be immediately applied to their ventures.
Complementing these are digital and data clinics, where participants will learn to use their phones not only for communication but also as powerful tools for accessing extension services, tracking weather patterns, monitoring market prices and even joining e-commerce platforms. For cooperatives, the clinics will demonstrate how pooled data can become a bargaining chip for better deals.
Finally, policy and advocacy rooms will create a space where lived realities meet national decision-making. Through evidence-based discussions, participants and policymakers will together craft communiqués aimed at shaping enabling market systems and inclusive financing frameworks.
Measurable impact and lasting benefits
EWAYES 25 has been built around one promise: participants will not walk away with pamphlets and platitudes, but with tangible assets they can put to work immediately. The summit is structured to provide a clear pathway to credit and working capital, offering practical guidance on how to develop proposals that meet lender criteria and attract financing. Beyond finance, participants will gain direct introductions to buyers and processors eager for consistent volumes and quality products, opening doors to reliable markets.
The benefits extend into enterprise management. Templates for cooperative governance, book-keeping and traceability will help farmers and agripreneurs meet formal market requirements with confidence. Access to digital platforms will ensure they can market, sell and fulfil orders seamlessly, while curated lists of cost-effective equipment and inputs will guide them to investments with the highest return on limited capital. In essence, attendees will leave equipped not only with knowledge but also the relationships, tools and strategies that turn potential into performance.
At the heart of this vision is Sophia Karen Edem Ackuaku, founder of the Eligreen Agribusiness Hub. Her message is clear and urgent: “By empowering women and youth in agribusiness, we are strengthening food security, creating jobs and building climate-smart rural economies. This is more than an event – it’s a launchpad for sustainable enterprises”. Under her leadership, the Hub has grown into one of Ghana’s most dynamic multi-stakeholder platforms – dedicated to advocacy, training, funding and showcasing innovation in agribusiness.
Partners, collaboration and a call to action
The weight of EWAYES 25 lies not only in its programming but also the powerful coalition behind it. The summit is spearheaded by Eligreen Agribusiness Hub in partnership with Ghana EXIMBANK and the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industries, with strong collaboration from organisations such as Cosmos Innovation Centre and Agrolabs Ltd. Endorsement from the Presidential Initiative in Agribusiness and Agriculture (Office of the President) underscores the national commitment to advancing women- and youth-led agribusiness as a driver of inclusive growth.
Yet this platform is not closed; it actively invites broader participation. Corporate brands, development partners and agrifood buyers are called to plug into the summit in multiple ways: by sponsoring training tracks, input kits or technology showcases; by exhibiting climate-smart tools, packaging solutions, quality-testing services or logistics offerings; by sourcing from vetted cooperatives and SMEs that meet volume and quality demands; and by mentoring emerging founders, turning promising ventures into thriving enterprises.
For those ready to be part of this landmark event, the details are straightforward. The Eligreen Women & Youth Agribusiness Exhibition Summit (EWAYES 25) runs from October 13–14, 2025, beginning daily at 10:00 a.m. at the Accra International Conference Centre. With an expected audience of over 5,000 participants across the agribusiness value chain, the summit offers unmatched opportunities for networking, learning and investment.
For inquiries, sponsorships and registration, interested parties can reach the organisers via 233 24 408 1358 or [email protected] Registration for the event and exhibition can be done through: https://www.eligreenagricandagribusinesshub.com/register/
The post Comms and branding with Samuel OWUSU-ADUOMI: 5,000 Agripreneurs to converge in Accra for EWAYES ’25 Agribusiness Summit appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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