The Journey So Far And What’s Next: Komlan Kekeli Batchey
Mastercard Foundation Scholars Share Their Story
Komlan Kekeli Batchey (Togo)
EARTH University, Agricultural Sciences
“Africa’s future billionaires and millionaires will make their money from agriculture,” says Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank who was named Forbes African of the Year in December 2013.
These words above coupled with Komlan’s upbringing in an agricultural family motivated him to study Agricultural Science at the EARTH University. “I grew up in an area surrounded by farmers where farming was the main economic activity. This made me realize the importance of farmers in society as they are the ones who feed us. I picked up an interest in agriculture and I hope one day I will be able to have impact on my community and scale up to other places.” Komlan, stated
At EARTH University, Komlan was the Vice President of the African Student Union, a member of the Mastercard Foundation Student Advisory Board, a Resolution Project Fellow, and a NetImpact Ambassador. He was also a finalist at the Wege Prize Competition: an annual competition that ignites game-changing solutions for the future by inspiring college/university students around the world to collaborate across institutional, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries to redesign the way economies work. Participants contend for over $30,000 (USD) in total cash prizes, all while helping to show the world what the future of problem-solving looks like.
For his final year dissertation, Komlan researched the Impacts of Living Income Differential on Welfare of Cocoa Farming Households. This was a comparative study between Ghana and Togo. The objective of this thesis was to describe differences of cocoa farmers in Togo and Ghana concerning socio-economic variables including prices, welfare, and investment. The goal is to explore whether identified differences between the two countries might partially be due to country differences in price levels and fluctuations.
Post-graduation, Komlan is still exploring his options in graduate studies.
