Mathias Charles Yabe is an award-winning Ghanaian social entrepreneur and innovator with a deep-rooted passion for creating positive community impact. Over the past half-decade, Mathias has dedicated himself to social impact work, making significant strides in the fields of agriculture, education, and climate resilience.

Mathias is the Founder and CEO of AkoFresh, an AgriTech startup that addresses the critical issue of post-harvest losses in agriculture. AkoFresh’s solar-powered cold storage technology extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables from the typical five days to up to 21 days. This innovation not only helps farmers reduce waste but also supports them in sustainably producing crops amidst the challenges posed by climate change. Through AkoFresh, Mathias has empowered hundreds of rural farmers with climate change mitigation interventions, improving livelihoods and enhancing food security.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mathias demonstrated his commitment to inclusive education by developing a disability-friendly virtual learning platform. This platform, designed to assist hearing-impaired students during school closures, reached over 850 students and earned Mathias the Ford Motor Company Fund COVID-19 Challenge Award.

In 2023, Mathias was appointed as the Country Coordinator for the Hult Prize in Ghana, where he leads the world’s largest social entrepreneurship program for college students. His leadership has contributed to the successful implementation of five social impact projects, benefiting over 7,000 individuals across Ghana.

Mathias’s dedication to social impact has been recognized globally. In 2019, he was selected for the Millennium Fellowship, a leadership program supported by the United Nations Academic Impact. That same year, he served as a College Mentor for the SAGE program, supporting students in the National High School Entrepreneurship Competition.

In 2021, Mathias was named a Top Innovator by the World Economic Forum for his work in reducing food waste through solar-powered cooling solutions. He also received the Grand Prize in the Fishbowl Global Challenge. Mathias was one of the eight laureates for the 2022 Youth for Climate Resilient Agriculture Program, hosted by the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and IAAS World.

At the 2022 Global Solutions Summit in Berlin, Mathias was honored with the inaugural Young Global Changers Recoupling Award for his innovative solutions that align economic prosperity with environmental sustainability. That same year, he won the Grand Prize in the TotalEnergies Startupper of the Year competition, both in Ghana and at the global level in Paris.