Our Team

<h6><strong>Professional Skills</strong></h6> <ul> <li>Development Banking</li> <li>Entrepreneurship Development Expert</li> <li>Debt and Grant Fund Management</li> <li>Agribusiness Value Chain Specialist</li> <li>Market Development and Studies</li> <li>Feasibility Study</li> <li>Institutional Development Expert</li> <li>Donor Program Management</li> </ul> <h6><strong>Activities</strong></h6> Francis previously worked as Training Manager for EMPRETEC Ghana Foundation, Team leader for Agribusiness and Construction Unit at the National Investment Bank and Enterprise Finance Manager at TechnoServe Ghana. <strong>Summary of present and past positions and Role:</strong> <ul> <li><strong>Country Investment Manager, </strong>Ghana - For Missio Invest Corp with headquarters in New York, USA – Missio Invest combines faith with financing to support developmental projects in sectors such as Health, Agriculture and Education in developing countries particularly Africa.</li> <li><strong>Founder/Chairman</strong> – Enterprise Impacts Growth (EIG) – A consulting firm with focus on general consulting, debt and grant fund managers serving as a key partner to Deloitte Ghana and other international organizations in Ghana and Africa</li> <li><strong>Project Manager for the Fund Manager – </strong>for the $40.06 <strong>Million</strong> Liberia Agriculture Commercialization Fund (LACF)</li> <li><strong>Former Chief Point of Contact for </strong>the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Development Credit Authority (DCA) for agriculture sector loan guarantee currently managed by Root Capital.</li> <li><strong>Former In-country Representative/ Portfolio Manager for Anglophone West African Countries at</strong> Root Capital Inc, an Impact and development finance institution with headquarters in Massachusetts, USA</li> </ul> <strong>Board Membership – </strong>Liberia Agriculture Commercialization Fund (Liberia), Tema Women`s Hospital, Ghana Innovation Hub AND Agribusiness Investments Consult <strong>Committees –</strong> Member, Root Capital Africa Regional Management Team and other social and religious institutions <strong>Summary of Agencies, Donors and Institutions with Consulting Experience in Africa</strong> Francis has extensive  past and present consulting experience with major donor funded projects in the areas of development banking, investments financing, entrepreneurship training and development for SMEs, agricultural value chain development and financing,  business planning and financial modelling, feasibility and market access studies etc in Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, and other African countries for institutions such  as Deloitte Ghana, the World Bank (WB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), TechnoServe, Invest in Africa, Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), World Food Program, African Development Bank (AfDB), IFC, ILO, KOSMOS Energy, ENI-Ghana Gas Project, Kosmos Energy Business Incubation Program, Izwe Savings and loans PLC, and other government agencies such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries  and more.

<h6><strong>Professional Skills</strong></h6> <ul> <li>SME Diagnostics and restructuring</li> <li>SME Coaching & Mentoring</li> <li>Rural & Agribusiness Development</li> <li>Training Facilitation</li> <li>Entrepreneurship Projects Implementation</li> <li>Market Access and Linkages</li> <li>Access to Finance Facilitation</li> <li>Business planning, feasibility and market studies</li> </ul> <h6><strong>Activities</strong></h6> <em>Kwadwo has more than 12 years’ extensive experience of private sector development and in the design and implementation of various MSME related entrepreneurship, financial and business development services interventions having played various roles in the implementation of the underlisted projects.</em> <ul> <li><strong><em>Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) </em></strong><em>{Funder: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)}: Serving as Principal Consultant on Bizgrotech Limited’s team for a project that seeks to unlock agricultural finance in Ghana by facilitating transactions to drive capital investment and trade in selected value chains in Ghana: maize, soy, groundnuts, cowpea, shea, cashew, mango and other high value export crops. Bizgrotech is one of many Business Advisory Service Providers (BASPs) engaged by the project to facilitate finance for the project’s target sectors.</em></li> </ul> <ul> <li><em><strong>Bid Management, Supplier Development and Entrepreneurship Training for MSMEs</strong> {Funder: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH}: Served as Team Lead with overall responsibility for the project to upgrade the bid management capacities of selected local MSMEs (100) and to deliver a comprehensive package of entrepreneurship training, mentoring, and business coaching services with emphasis on bid management procedures for the MSMEs to enable them to successfully bid for contracts at Golden Star Resources (an international mining company) and its affiliate companies.</em></li> </ul> <ul> <li><em><strong>Consultancy Services to develop Market Access Capabilities and establish New Market Linkages for Small and Medium Enterprises under the SME Recovery and Resilience Programme</strong> (Funder: Mastercard Foundation): Served as Team Member for</em> <em>Bizgrotech Limited and as subcontractor for AIC & Deloitte Ghana on the project that sought to assess and identify the needs of at least 100 selected SMEs, ensure their survival and recovery, facilitate market linkages for a minimum of 70 of them and to build their resilience to future shocks.</em></li> </ul> <ul> <li><em>UNDP South Sudan: Served as Implementation Team Leader to identify, select, and provide entrepreneurial and management skills training and a comprehensive suite of business advisory and support services to 32 youth-led businesses in order to ensure their survival and accelerate their growth.</em></li> </ul> <ul> <li><em><strong>Consulting Services for Capacity Development of Small & Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) for Supply Chain Integration</strong>; (Funder: African Development Bank): Responsible for the overall management of the training, business diagnosis, coaching and mentoring components of the programme that developed the capacity of 160 SMEs in order to integrate them to the supply chains of multi-nationals and large companies.</em></li> </ul>  

<h6><strong>Professional Skills</strong></h6> <ul> <li>Project Management</li> <li>Private Sector Development</li> <li>Stakeholder Management</li> <li>Financial & Project Valuation</li> <li>Investment Transaction Execution</li> </ul> <h6><strong>Activities</strong></h6> <ul> <li>Formulated business plans, conducted due diligence, and assessed viable opportunities for growth stage companies in West Africa seeking bridge financing to scale their business</li> <li>Led the Access to Finance (A2F) portfolio of an FCDO funded market systems development program in Nigeria. Key activities include developing an inclusive cross-cutting finance strategy for agricultural value chains and facilitating trade financing for processors in the shea value chain.</li> <li>Conducted value chain studies, market assessments and market-entry strategies for multi-million dollar companies in agro-processing in Ghana and Nigeria.</li> <li>As the value chain specialist on the USAID ADVANCE project in Ghana, he supervised a team of field business facilitators who engaged with agriculture value chain actors to build their capacities and enhance their competitiveness.</li> </ul>

<h6><strong>Professional Skills</strong></h6> <ul> <li>Accounting</li> <li>Agriculture Value Chain Finance Analyst</li> <li>Development Finance</li> <li>Research</li> </ul> <h6><strong>Activities</strong></h6> Samuel has, in the last five years, performed detailed financial analysis on over 80 agricultural value chains for international organizations, NGOs, and private companies as well as individuals in Ghana and neighboring countries. <ul> <li>Business Development Onsite Support for SMEs under Root Capital</li> <li>Training SMEs on business plan preparation under the Financial Assistance Support for Root Capital</li> <li>SME Market Access Consultancy to 12 Clients under the IIA Market Access Programme for SMEs in Ghana</li> <li>Gender Inclusion Study on Maize and Soy Industries in Ghana for Root Capital</li> <li>Financial analysis of selected Value Chains (including Cassava) in GIZ MOAP DAIPs sponsored districts )</li> <li>Financial advisory and investment appraisal services for Kumasi Institute for Tropical Agriculture (KITA)</li> <li>Business Plan Preparation and Investment appraisal services for Kwahu Roots and Fruits Processing Limited</li> <li>Business Plan Preparation and Investment appraisal services for Intervalle Ghana Ltd (Subsidiary of Intervalle Geneve)</li> <li>Business Plan Preparation and Investment appraisal services for Farmdirect Company Limited</li> <li>Business Plan Preparation and Investment appraisal services for Fobcom Seed Company Limited</li> </ul>

<h6><strong>Professional Skills</strong></h6> <ul> <li>Research</li> <li>Development of M&E Systems</li> <li>Development of Databases</li> <li>Data analyses and report writing</li> </ul> <h6><strong>Activities</strong></h6> <ul> <li><b>M&E Support</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> [April 2021 to Date]</span><b> Liberia Agriculture Commercialization Fund (LACF)</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a component of the </span><b>Smallholder Agriculture Transformation and Agribusiness Revitalisation Project (STAR-P)</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span><b>World Bank/IFAD</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></li> <li><b>M&E Support </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">[February 2021 to February 2022]</span><b>. Consultancy Services to Develop Market Access Capabilities and Establish Market Linkages for Small and Medium Enterprises under the Recovery and Resilience Program</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span><b>Invest in Africa/Mastercard Foundation.</b></li> <li><b>Principal Consultant</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> [January 17, 2014, to April 17, 2014]</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Developed case studies detailing the successes and challenges of the Africa Parliamentary Strengthening Program (APSP) and the approaches used in implementing the various facets of the program by reviewing program documents, conducting of interviews, and analysing field and inhouse data.</span></li> <li><b>Principal Researcher</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> [January 1 to May 15, 2009], </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Economic Cost and Benefit Analyses for Rainforest Alliance Certified Cocoa Production in Ghana</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <b>International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ghana</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></li> <li><b>Lead Researcher</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> [October 1 to December 31, 2008], </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Assessment of Postharvest Losses in the Peri-urban and Urban Vegetable Chains in Ghana—case of Lettuce, Tomato, Pepper, and Okra</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><b>International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Benin</b></li> </ul>