Buchanan — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has for the second year launched its Growth Accelerator Visioning Boot Camp for Agriculture Cooperatives.

On Thursday, UNDP Liberia and its partners iCampus and Accountability Lab with policy support from the Ministry of Commerce launched the second edition of its boot camp in Buchanan city, Grand Bassa County.

The Growth Accelerator Liberia is a UNDP and the Government of Liberia initiative under the livelihood, employment creation, and accelerating impactful For-profit ventures across the fifteen counties of Liberia.

The CEO of iCampus Luther Jeke speaking at the opening session of the boot camp said the boot camp over the next three days will be used for intense business development training and help scale cooperatives and as well empowers local entrepreneurs.

He said the growth Accelerator Liberia Programme is a business and agricultural cooperative accelerator, targeting, impactful, innovative ventures and cooperatives across Liberia in all industries.

According to him, the programme targets post-revenue businesses and cooperatives to assist them to scale and grow with a combination of co-financing grant up to US$40,000 and as well provide mentorship and technical assistance.

"The three days will be used for learning, sharing and networking between the ten semi-finalists from Nimba, Lofa and Montserrado converging to learn how to improve their local businesses through the boot camp," he said.

UNDP Liberia Program team leader Dosla Facarthy for his part lauded iCampus CEO and extended greetings on behalf of UNDP resident representative, adding that entrepreneurship is a fundamental part of growth and development in Liberia.

He said the project is set to include eight post-revenue MSMEs and five agriculture cooperatives and provide entrepreneurs that are impact-driven with business development training, mentorship, and access to funding that will enable them to grow and scale.