{"id":514008,"date":"2026-06-27T17:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514008\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:10:11","slug":"akofresh-ceo-wins-100000-opec-fund-youth-entrepreneurship-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514008\/","title":{"rendered":"AkoFresh CEO wins $100,000 OPEC Fund Youth Entrepreneurship Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AkoFresh, Mathias Charles Yabe, has won the Youth Entrepreneurship Award at the <a href=\"https:\/\/opecfund.org\/news-events\/news\/three-innovators-win-opec-fund-annual-award-for-developmen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">OPEC Fund&#8217;s 2026 <\/a>Annual Award for Development.<\/p>\n<p>The award, valued at US$100,000, was presented in recognition of AkoFresh&#8217;s innovative efforts to address post-harvest losses and strengthen food security among rural farming communities in Ghana through sustainable agricultural solutions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3499-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10033091347\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The company provides solar-powered cold storage, refrigerated transport, farmer training, and market access to help rural farmers reduce post-harvest losses, improve incomes, and strengthen food security.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative highlights how youth-led entrepreneurship is advancing climate resilience and inclusive rural development.<\/p>\n<p>Accepting the award in Vienna, Austria, Mathias Charles Yabe encouraged young innovators to remain committed to their aspirations despite challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo every young person with a dream that feels too big, too difficult, or too early, keep going. The world needs your ideas, your energy, and your determination,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Yabe expressed appreciation to the OPEC Fund for empowering youth-driven innovation and creating opportunities for young entrepreneurs to contribute to sustainable development.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thank you to the OPEC Fund for believing in youth-led innovation and for creating this platform to empower the next generation to build a more inclusive and sustainable future,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Mathias was among three young innovators from various parts of the world to be awarded the OPEC Fund Annual Award for Development.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3500-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10033091348\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Revamped for the OPEC Fund\u2019s 50th anniversary, the award now recognises excellence across three categories: Transformational Impact, Innovation for Development, and Youth Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n<p>The Transformational Impact Award, valued at US$450,000, was presented to Fundaci\u00f3n Plan International Espa\u00f1a for DESFERS, an initiative supporting women in the Sahel through renewable energy, skills training, and access to financing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-3501-683x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10033091349\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Innovation for Development Award, valued at US$250,000, was received by iFarmer Limited for its work with smallholder farmers in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n<p>DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<p>DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AkoFresh, Mathias Charles Yabe, has won the Youth Entrepreneurship Award at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[114,293,85,46],"class_list":["post-514008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}