ALBERTA NANA AKYAA AKOSA’s PROFILE

Alberta is an Agric Advocate, intervener, initiator and implementer.  She is a passionate promoter of the Agricultural industry and a tiller of the earth herself.

Alberta is the Founder of Agrihouse Foundation, Agrihouse Communications and Shaping Conversations Africa, and the lead initiator of all the highly impactful interventions that the organization spearheads.

She is passionate and committed to making a sustainable and measurable impact within the sector, and her biggest satisfaction is to see all farmers and value chain actors happy.

Over the years, she has led her organization to make significant contributions to the development of the agricultural sector in Ghana, through her advocacies, youth driven initiatives, competence-based Training programs, leadership development and market linkages interventions

Some of her initiatives and interventions includes:

• The Agricultural students’ Career Guidance and Mentorship Dialogue Bootcamp(AG-STUD),
• The Gathering of the Royals
• The Livestock, Poultry and Fisheries Training & Tradeshow (LiPF),
• The Women in Food and Agricultural Leadership Training Forum (WOFAGRIC)
• The Gold in the Soil Awards
• The monthly Agri-woman Market Place.
• The monthly Agribusiness Beginner Executive Masterclass
• The Ghana Chicken Festival, now the Ghana Poultry Day
• The AgriWatch News Portal.
• The Preharvest Agribusiness Exhibitions and Conference Event
• The Monthly Agricultural Capacity Building Roadshow (The It is Possible project, which she co-initiated with Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, to provide free training, with snail, rabbit and mushroom starter packs)
• The 1 household, 1 garden project (1h,1g)

 

Among other key impacts, her projects/interventions have supported in:

• Providing household food security, enhancing nutrition, through training and equipping over 6000 women farmers and persons with disabilities, in establishing vegetable backyard gardens.

• Providing long-term market opportunities to over 297,000 farmers, processors and agribusinesses, in the northern part of the country and beyond.

• Boosted the capacity of farmer-based organizations, farmer groups, smallholder farmers, through tailor-module, farmer to farmer training and demonstrations.

• Establishing of a Vegetable Training and Demonstration centre in Bamvim, which is continuously training youth, women in seedling and nursery management.

• Assisting farmers and 450+ agri-businesses to expand, and create an environment for new partnerships.

• Helping farmers adopt best practices for sustainability.

• Providing a platform for more than 22,000 commodity buyers to establish business relationships for the marketing of their produce.

• Technically and financially, assisting in setting up over 294 businesses by young graduates, through the Agricultural students Career Guidance and Mentorship Dialogue Bootcamp.

• Also, her women in food and agric leadership training programme has trained, mentored and empowered over 5000 agro women and women farmers with disabilities from Volta Region, Ashanti Region, Upper East, Upper West Regions, Western North, Western region and Eastern Region respectively. It has also Increased incomes, Increased participation in decision making, Improved status of the women in their communities, Increased savings, ability to pay children’s school fees and other educational expenses,

• Ability to meet medical expenses, Increased farm size to get increased income for construction and renovation of their houses, Attraction of enough and appropriate extension services to help them improve both their yields and their incomes.

• Through Alberta’s capacity building and support-based programs for women, about 38% of the nominees for the “Gold in the Soil Awards”, have made entries into the National Best Farmers Award Scheme at the district, regional and national levels. About 14 of them have won laurels at the district and regional levels whilst 6 of them picked up awards at the National awards.

• Again, her interventions have contributed to strengthen over 5000 women-led agribusinesses across Ghana, formation of strong cooperatives, and motivated a paradigm shift in projecting women achievers in agribusiness.

 

Alberta is not only passionate, but also creative, reliable, committed and offers tested and practical solutions to challenges.

For 11 years, she has been writing consistently as an Agricultural Columnist, with the Business and Financial Times, in her bid to support create awareness and promote the sectors opportunities to attract the youth and drive investment.

From 2017 until date, Alberta has been serving on the National Planning Committee, for the organization of the Annual National Farmers Day, under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture-Ghana.

She is credited for leading, packaging and scaling up, the Exhibitions component of the National Farmers’ Day.

Her works and interventions are continuously making significant contributions to the development of the agricultural sector, ensuring that growth in all facets of the agriculture sector are in tandem; receiving equal attention and resources, as they all deserve.

Alberta and her Team are currently developing a 10-acre Training and Demonstration Farmland in Bamvim, into a modern and standard Agr-village, which aims at providing shelter and conducive environment, for the preservation of quality and quantity of plants and crops, increase the productivity of animals and farmers, and ensure safety and good working condition of machineries and equipment.

 

The Project, when completed will be the 1^st of its kind in the country, with different types of farms, including seed and Livestock Farms, Laboratories, Training and Conference halls.

It will also have a Research Units, Exhibition stores for agric companies, Exhibition Grounds, Training, Recreational and educational centre, Storage space, Production room, Training and Demonstration Fields, Processing rooms, mechanized centres, library, nursery units and facilities to host agricultural events.  It will also serve as an academy for training Ghana’s sustainable farmers and to grow the Agri-tourism industry.

A cattle farmer herself, Alberta is indeed happy to be at the forefront of changing the narrative in Ghana, by making positive contributions and efforts, which ultimately helps to create the needed awareness, sustain thousands of jobs across the agricultural value chain; providing effective training and growth in the agricultural sector in Ghana.

She is committed to making farming lucrative; making farmers happy, and ensuring that her initiatives and every project she embarks on, have a positive influence socio-economically, whiles having a human and environmental impact on the overall agricultural agenda.

Her Foundation’s drive and commitment is to contribute to mind-set change and create a more desirable sector that is open to learning, to create, to innovate, to lead, to share, to impact to grow, to invest and to expand, through an all-inclusive approach, where creativity and innovation takes the centre stage.

Her organization employs about 86% women and 4% men with zeal, who support her, run the daily activities of the foundation.

Alberta is excited about her work; she believes it is her Calling and her Purpose here.  She is motivated by her “New age of Leadership slogan: No age, No Degree, No Race, No Excuse, Only the Courage to be the change and act with care and Compassion

 

 Before Alberta’s Agric path:

Alberta, before establishing Agrihouse Foundation, Agrihouse Communications and Shaping Conversations Africa, worked as the Co-Founder of FAGRO (A food and agricultural exhibitions program).

She was also the General Manager of Infocus PR, where she was engaged in, in-depth public relations and corporate communications consultations, Government Relations, Project Management, strategy Development, communications strategies, both in Ghana and across the continent for over 19 years, providing clients with market relevant communications services in over 25 African markets.

She has a long record of accomplishment, of credible and successful management across diverse sectors.

Alberta’s experience also includes issue and reputation management, communications strategy development, crisis communications, public affairs, CSR, brands positioning, investor and media relations.

A strategic communications practitioner, Alberta has had the opportunity (both past and present), to partner Arcay Burson Marsteller, South Africa, where she led and worked, on key communications and projects with brands including YARA Ghana, The Economist, Nokia, Samsung, Puma Energy, General Electric (GE), Alcatel-lucent and managed Research works for Drysvale in Guinea Conakry.

She has also managed communications strategies and events for OCP Ghana, IE Singapore and Cocoa Processing Company (CPC). Alberta was a lead member in the development of the launch strategy and brand name INSPIRE – Ghana’s Sugar-Free Chocolate, developed by a KNUST Nutritionist Student, Ida, who later became an employee of CPC.

She has also worked on, and managed programs, conferences, Exhibitions, etc for GIZ, National Communications Authority (NCA), AGRA, USDA-GPP, USAID ADVANCE, FAO, Barclays (now ABSA), VIVO Energy, Embassy of Brazil, Israel Embassy, Norwegian Embassy, Agritop, and the Africa Green Revolution Forum, among others, both present and past.

Alberta, prior to her works at Infocus PR and the FAGRO Secretariat, worked with Global Media Alliance, where she led and assisted in the implementation of some key projects including the AU Summit, UEFA Champions League and CAN 2008. She also worked on the then annual CNN African Journalists of the Year Awards, in South Africa.

Alberta has through her works with Arcay Burson Marsteller, consulted, led and managed communications and events in other countries including Kenya, Benin, South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Cote d’ Voire, Guinea, Guinea Conakry and Nigeria, Liberia,  among others.

Alberta, also worked as an Advocacy Official,  for the late Former Vice President – H.E. Alhaji Aliu Mahama, under his “DO THE RIGHT THING- CAMPAIGN FOR GREATER DISCIPLINE”

Alberta also works on the promotion of Trade, Investment, Business to Business Matchmaking related and Learning programs, within other countries including Brazil and Israel.

She is also, in a joint working partnership with GhaNeb LLC, Nebraska, to strengthen and promote Trade and Investment, between Ghana and Nebraska.

Alberta continues to train and facilitate trainings for Beginner Agribusinesses, Groups, Associations, development agencies, among others. She is also a Columnist, and been writing on PR and recent years, on Agriculture, for over ten years, with the Business and Financial Times.