From Academia to Agriculture: Former PhD student and supervisor launch innovative vertical farming venture

It’s fairly common for supervisors to stay in touch with their former PhD students. Many continue as collaborators in research, teach together, and maintain close friendships after their formal supervisor-student relationship comes to an end.

Less common? Going into business together.

But that’s exactly where Dr. Ernest Korankye (Class of ’13 and ’18) and Dr. Raj Lada have found themselves, over a decade after they first met.

“I never pictured myself as an entrepreneur,” says Dr. Lada, professor emeritus at the Faculty of Agriculture. “But I discovered in my retirement that staying at home was very difficult for me. Starting a new endeavour with Ernest felt like a natural fit.”

Ernest came to Nova Scotia from Ghana in 2010 after enrolling in the NSAC Master of Science program. Raj was not his original supervisor, but a twist of fate brought them together. Ernest would go on to complete both his MSc and PhD as part of Dr. Lada’s research program on Christmas trees,  focusing on balsam fir volatiles.

“Ernest is a very hardworking individual,” says Raj. “He took on a complicated project, in a subject matter that was new to him, doing research that had never been done before. I don’t know anybody else who would have taken that challenge on, and I congratulate him for it.”

As if grad studies weren’t enough, Ernest was also finding his path to entrepreneurship. Almost immediately after relocating to Truro, he found himself figuring out how to ship goods home to Ghana, and by 2012, he had established Asante Logistic Group, a business he ran on the side with his wife Anita while pursuing his MSc and then PhD.