InspiraFarms and  FreezeLink aim to build fresh produce cold chain in  Ghana

InspiraFarms and FreezeLink are pleased to announce that they have partnered to build and integrate the fresh produce cold chain in Ghana focusing on export crops supply chains, through the development of business opportunities and facilitating access to cold chain technology through asset finance, refrigeration-as-a-service, and technical services.

Ghana and many West African countries represent an enormous opportunity for the growth of the cold chain and the integration of post-harvest loss management solutions. Just in Ghana, the need for cold chain solutions within the fruit and vegetable value chains, through cold storage and refrigerated trucks, has a revenue potential of up to USD 900 million annually and this opportunity remains largely untapped.

Based on this, the partnership has the objective of serving the Ghana agribusiness sector by building more than 2M EUR of pre-cooling and cold chain facilities during 2021.

As well, it will foresee the expansion of InspiraFarms’ one-of-a-kind and next-generation on-farm cold chain and food handling technology over the West African markets to offer cooling solutions for fresh produce, asset finance, and cloud-based data solutions.

“There is no greater feeling than building a product that impacts businesses & people’s lives in a profound way. With Freezelink, we have established a long term collaborative partnership that will foresee the expansion of our markets and extend our vision to help more farmers and African agribusinesses with cold chain solutions. Our objective to improve fresh fruit & vegetable supply chains across Ghana and West Africa will be seen through this partnership and we could not be happier.” – Michele Bruni, InspiraFarms Chief Commercial Officer.

The partnership will also combine and scale-up FreezeLink’s cold chain logistics and technical expertise and operations to increase commercial opportunities in the Ghana fresh produce industry, both as an operator and a supplier of technical after-sales services and cooling solutions complementing its traditional third-party logistics offering.

“This is an important moment for the agricultural sector in West Africa. For the first time, our farmers will be able to access the integrated, onsite cold storage, haulage and shipping services required to tap into high-value horticulture markets globally. FreezeLink’s vision has always been to create a ‘Horticulture Highway’, from West African farms to the rest of the world. Achieving this vision requires an unbroken cold chain and asset finance. This partnership provides both. We are very excited.” – Owusu A. Akoto, FreezeLink CEO.

The partnership commenced in March 2021. With InspiraFarms and FreezeLink closely working to build an 800 square meter unit in the Volta region – a predominantly farming area in Ghana. This unit will be able to offer processing, precooling, packaging areas, and cold storage for sweet potatoes which will be farmed and processed on-site as deemed fit for the export market.

This partnership is aiming to target agribusinesses that are export oriented that might require different types of commercial models to access cooling for their crops.