Hello guys,
Welcome to our weekly recap of the big news + funding in Ghana’s startup ecosystem. Here’s a look at the bold moves shaping the ecosystem this week.
- Legendary Foods secures funding to tackle nutrition and protein insecurity.
- PureLube scores $15,000 as a 2025 GoGettaz Impact Award Winner.
- Tullow AgriVentures backs 20 Small and Growing Businesses with $200k investment.
- PureLube scoops GHS 50,000 prize at the 2025 Student Venture Support Programme.
- Mohinani Group secures funding from Norfund to scale its plastic recycling infrastructure.
- Ex-JUMO Ghana boss Jeremy Quainoo takes Africa Director role at Ezra.
- LemFi taps Charles Edem Goh as new Ghana General Manager.
- Hubtel revamps its advisory board with the appointment of Simon Poole & Marjorie Saint-Lot.
- After 12 Years, Gregory Rockson exits mPharma CEO role as Kwesi Arhin steps in.
- Farmerline partners with Global Shea Alliance and New Markets Lab to digitally map shea trees across Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
- MojoPay partners Codebase Technologies to roll out a banking-as-a-service platform for financial institutions.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Funding
Legendary Foods secures funding to tackle nutrition and protein insecurity.
Legendary Foods, a Ghana-based foodtech company, has secured funding from Alliance Management, Baylis Emerging Markets, Climate Resilience Africa Fund, ABAN, Dakar Network Angels, DeveloPPP Ventures, MotherFood International, Katapult and other Toniic members to expand its palm larva farming model across Africa.
By converting the agricultural by-products into safe and affordable protein, the company is addressing major nutrition challenges including the protein gap, micronutrient deficiencies, and dependence on costly food imports. Palm larva is naturally rich in protein, iron, zinc, B vitamins, and healthy fats, making it a powerful ingredient for consumer foods, industrial nutrition products, and humanitarian feeding programs. With the largest palm larva farm in Africa, Legendary Foods has already created 60 jobs, upcycled over 100 metric tons of agri-waste each month, and reduced more than 700 tons of carbon emissions annually, positioning itself as a leader in building a resilient and sustainable African food system.
PureLube scores $15,000 as a 2025 GoGettaz Impact Award Winner.
PureLube, the eco-friendly lubricant made from cashew nut shell liquid, has been named one of the four winners of the 2025 GoGettaz Africa Impact Awards, taking home $15,000 in prize funding. The annual awards recognize startups driving change in areas such as rural livelihoods, nutrition, climate solutions, technology, gender impact, natural resource conservation, and job creation. PureLube’s innovative approach positions it as a standout in the push for sustainable industrial solutions across Africa.
PureLube scoops GHS 50,000 prize at the 2025 Student Venture Support Programme.
PureLube Ltd, a student-led startup from the University for Development Studies emerged winner of the 2025 Student Venture Support Programme, organised by the University of Ghana’s Research and Innovation Directorate in partnership with Imperial College London. PureLube’s eco-friendly grease from cashew nut shells impressed the judges with its product quality, sustainability, market potential and go-to-market strategy, earning the team GHC 50,000 in seed funding.
The 2025 edition of the competition attracted 236 applications, with 42 student teams from four public universities advancing to the final stage.
Mohinani Group secures Norfund backing to expand plastic recycling operations
The multi-generational conglomerate behind Ghana’s Polytank brand and Nigeria’s Sonnex Packaging has secured debt funding from Norfund to scale its rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) initiatives across both markets. The investment will support the expansion of Mohinani’s recycling infrastructure, enabling the production of recycled PET resins to replace virgin PET in food-grade packaging bottles and containers. By advancing the use of rPET, the group aims to deliver more sustainable, eco-friendly packaging solutions for the region’s fast-growing consumer markets.
Tullow AgriVentures backs 20 Small and Growing Businesses with $200k investment.
Twenty agribusiness have each secured $10,000 in seed funding through the Tullow AgriVentures Programme Pitch 2025, alongside business support and market access. Winners include SAYeTECH, which builds smart machinery for smallholder farmers, JGrand Commodities, known for value-added cashew products, and Ab OVO, a premium artisanal chocolate brand. The cohort reflects Ghana’s diverse agri-innovation landscape, from climate-smart farming to agro-processing and sustainable consumer products, reinforcing Tullow Ghana’s drive to boost food security and job creation.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Talent
After 12 Years, Gregory Rockson exits mPharma CEO role as Kwesi Arhin steps in.
After more than a decade at the helm, Gregory Rockson has stepped down as CEO of mPharma, the healthtech company he co-founded in 2013. Rockson will transition to the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors, ensuring a smooth and strategic handover.
Stepping into the role is Kwesi Arhin, a seasoned executive who has risen through the company’s ranks over the past four years. Arhin most recently served as Chief Operating Officer and before that as Senior Vice President, where he led mPharma’s Nigeria retail business of 270 pharmacies and health stores across 15 states, contributing the majority of the Group’s revenue. He has also overseen franchise expansion across six African markets and played a key role in mPharma’s Series D fundraising.
Ex-JUMO Ghana boss Jeremy Quainoo takes Africa Director role at Ezra.
Ezra, the Apis Partners-backed embedded finance company, has appointed former JUMO Ghana CEO Jeremy Quainoo as Regional Director for Africa. In his new role, Quainoo will oversee banking partnerships, capital sourcing, and regional expansion as Ezra deepens its footprint across more than ten markets on the continent.
Quainoo spent several years at JUMO, where he managed operations and partnerships across Africa, drove country launches, and helped position the company as one of the leading players in digital financial services. His experience spans digital lending, banking strategy, and building scalable financial products for underserved markets.
LemFi taps Charles Edem Goh as new Ghana General Manager.
Cross-border payments company LemFi has appointed Charles Edem Goh as its new General Manager for Ghana. In his new role, Goh will lead the company’s operations in the country, strengthen strategic partnerships, and work closely with regulators to support LemFi’s mission of delivering trusted financial solutions for Ghanaians at home and abroad.
Goh brings deep experience from expressPay Ghana, where he spent close to six years, rising to become Head of Business Development. During his tenure, he led client engagement, managed regulatory and compliance processes, and built enduring relationships with key stakeholders in Ghana’s payments ecosystem.
Hubtel revamps its advisory board with the appointment of Simon Poole & Marjorie Saint-Lot.
Hubtel, Ghana’s leading payment service provider, is strengthening its leadership bench with the appointment of two heavyweight advisors, Simon Poole and Marjorie Saint-Lot, to its Management Advisory Council as it scales beyond Ghana and deepens its role as a trusted enabler of digital commerce and payments across Africa.
Simon Poole brings more than 30 years of finance and governance expertise, with a career that spans PwC London, Bank of America, Celtel International, and Helios Investment Partners. From spearheading billion-dollar telecom deals to steering IPOs for African giants like Helios Towers, Vivo Energy, and CAB Payments, he has built a reputation for combining capital markets savvy with rigorous governance to create lasting value.
Marjorie Saint-Lot, meanwhile, is a recognized force in digital transformation and market expansion. Currently Head of Francophone Africa at Taptap Send, where she oversees operations across 14 countries, she has also led Uber’s rapid growth in West Africa and directed high-value acquisitions at Orange Côte d’Ivoire. Known for driving profitability in tough markets and championing women’s inclusion in tech, she brings both commercial acumen and a strong social lens to the table.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Partnership
Farmerline partners with Global Shea Alliance and New Markets Lab to digitally map shea trees in West Africa.
Farmerline, has partnered with the Global Shea Alliance and New Markets Lab, to digitally map shea trees across Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The shea industry is a lifeline for millions of women in West Africa. They collect the nuts, process them, and earn money to support their families. The problem is that many of these women don’t officially “own” the trees or the land they harvest from, which leaves them vulnerable to losing access at any time.
Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through its flagship Land Facility programme, the project will create a digital map that shows exactly where the shea trees are and link that information to the women who collect from them. It will also work with governments to update laws so women’s rights to land and trees are better protected.
A central outcome will be the creation of an open-access Shea Tree Tenure Dashboard, providing data-driven insights to policymakers, supply chain actors, and advocates.
MojoPay partners Codebase Technologies to roll out a banking-as-a-service platform for financial institutions.
Codebase Technologies has partnered with Mojo Payments to launch Digibanc™ BaaS 2.0, a next-generation digital banking platform designed to accelerate financial innovation and inclusion. The Digibanc BaaS platform helps financial institutions modernize by giving them the ability to digitize faster, cut costs and simplify operations. Its cloud-native, API-first design removes the burden of heavy IT investment and complex integrations, allowing banks, fintechs and startups to launch digital services quickly and efficiently.
The platform provides a full suite of capabilities including customer onboarding, core banking, cards, payments, lending and customer engagement tools, all within a unified system that can scale as customer needs evolve. By enabling seamless and intuitive digital and mobile experiences, it empowers financial institutions to compete in a digital-first economy, close service gaps such as SME financing and reach more customers with innovative and affordable solutions.
📬 That’s all for this week. Want to feature your startup, funding round, or product launch? Subscribe and email us at info@theinnovationspark.com
—
Curated by The Ghana Innovation Journal, tracking Ghana’s startup momentum.
