Six youth technology innovators in Africa’s agriculture and food sectors win cash prizes in Pitch AgriHack 2022

 

Kigali, Rwanda: African agritech innovators from all four corners of the continent claimed victory in the 8th edition of Pitch AgriHack. The 2022 competition saw a 30% increase in completed applications with entries rolling in from 37 African countries. Representing Egypt and Tunisia in the north, Zimbabwe in the south, Ghana and Nigeria in the west, and Kenya in the east, six youth-led agribusinesses have been awarded their share of US$45,000 to invest in the growth of their ventures. 

The winners had a chance to present their businesses to delegates at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) where they participated in Africa’s biggest agribusiness match-making platform, the AGRF Agribusiness Dealroom. Over 800 companies, 15 government delegations and 150 public and private investors convened at the Dealroom to generate exciting new opportunities. “Pitch AgriHack is about creating impact through investment in the young agritech entrepreneurs of Africa.” said Mumbi Maina, Agribusiness Dealroom Lead at AGRA. “Beyond the prize money, we seek to catalyse relationships between our finalists and future collaborators and investors. These are the relationships that will revolutionise the food system.” 

Competing in three open competition categories – Early-stage, Mature- or Growth-stage, and Women-led – the Pitch AgriHack winners and runners-up were allocated cash prizes of $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. A fourth invite-only category known as the AYuTe Africa Challenge, an initiative of Heifer International, will award grants up to US$1.5 million later this year to scalable ventures that are already generating measurable impact for Africa’s smallholder farmers.

In 2022, the AYuTe Africa Challenge is expanding its role as an African agritech accelerator. New national competitions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda are offering young innovators a chance to secure the funding and visibility to scale their ideas and ambitions.

For the second year running, Heifer International, the AGRF, and Generation Africa worked together to realize this popular technology competition. “We at Heifer International believe that youth and innovation are the driving force toward transforming the food and farming sector in Africa,” said Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President for Africa Programs at Heifer International. “Leveraging technology, youth have the potential to unlock economic growth, create job opportunities for millions and empower smallholder farmers into self-reliance. We are excited for the future of Africa’s agriculture and the role innovators like these play in shaping it”.

Automated crop disease detectors, agri-fintech solutions for smallholder farmers, digitizing of community seed banks, and market linkages combined with climate-smart training and satellite yield mapping are only a few of the ideas that came out of this year’s Pitch AgriHack competition. These African agritech innovators are building more comprehensive solutions to solve problems for smallholder farmers. 

 

The Pitch AgriHack 2022 Winners are:

 

Early-Stage Winners:

Winner: Imen Hbiri of RoboCare in Tunisia.

Robocare’s patented multispectral disease detector is minimizing pesticides and boosting efficiency by helping greenhouse farmers in Tunisia catch and treat infections long before human eyes can even see it. https://www.robocare.tn/

Runner-up: Donald Mudenge of Mbeu Yedu in Zimbabwe.

Mbeu Yedu understands that seeds are currency. Their platform digitizes Community Seed Banks to give smallholder farmers access to greater seed-varieties, accurate planting information, agri-fintech products, value-added services, and buyers. https://mbeuyedu.com/

 

Mature and Growth-Stage Winners:

Winner: Hamis El Gabry of Mozare3 in Egypt.

Mozare3 is an agri-fintech company that connects small farmers in Egypt to the agriculture supply chain. Their model combines contract farming, agronomic support, financing and market access to increase yields and income. https://www.mozare3.net/

Runner-up: Allan Coredo of FarmIT in Kenya. 

FarmIT innovatively combines crop mapping and market linkages to help Kenya’s vegetable farmers. They use satellite imaging, analytics, and AI to provide simplified agronomic advice, and link farmers confidently with big buyers with accurate yields predictions. https://farmit.co.ke/

 

Women-led Agribusiness Winners:

Winner: Esther Kimani of Farmer LifeLine Technologies in Kenya. 

Farmer LifeLine helps Kenyan farmers to get ahead of pests and pathogens with a proprietary disease detection device that leverages solar-powered cameras, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, and Machine Learning. http://www.farmerlifeline.co.ke

 

Runner-up: Anaporka Adazabra of Farmio in Ghana. 

With their Smart Greenhouse package, Farmio guarantees a 120% increase in productivity for Ghana’s farmers. Their SuperApp connects growers with investors, buyers, consumers, agri-experts, and service providers. http://www.farmiogh.com

The achievements of the Pitch AgriHack winners were recognised at a Winners Showcase and Innovators Discussion Panel at the AGRF Summit. “Africa’s youth are bursting with ideas. They are hustling hard to turn dreams of stability and prosperity into a reality for themselves and their communities. For many of them it feels like the chance they need is just beyond reach. All they need is a friend to help them take a step towards self-sufficiency,” said Amanda Namayi, GoGettaz Lead at Generation Africa during the event.

“Our goal is to catalyse impact,” said Dickson Naftali, Head of Generation Africa at the Pitch AgriHack Winners Showcase and Innovators Panel at the AGRF Summit. “All of the people on stage today are making the business of farming easier, more productive, and more predictable for smallholder farmers. They are the front line in our food systems revolution.”     

Of the businesses applying for Pitch AgriHack, 20% are mature- or growth-stage businesses and almost 80% are early-stage startups. This is partly due to the youth demographic of the competition. Looking, however, at other research sources, as discussed in the 2022 Generation Africa Call to Action released prior to the AGRF Summit, it is evident that there is a need for more financing and investment options for early-stage startups in Africa’s agriculture space. Many of the agritech innovators who reached the Pitch AgriHack finals have identified this problem and have financing options built into their offerings.

From the various Generation Africa programs, it is evident that Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria, also has the largest number of activated youths pursuing opportunities in the agriculture sector. Forty-four percent (44%) of the entries for Pitch AgriHack come from Nigerian entrepreneurs. Other top countries applying for the competition were Africa’s tech-trendsetter Kenya, followed by Uganda, Ghana, and Rwanda. 

Pitch AgriHack was fortunate to welcome back three veteran judges from the previous panel:

• Nixon Gecheo, Senior Program Officer – Digital Systems & Solutions for Agriculture at AGRA
• Barbra Muzata, Head of Corporate Communications at Corteva AgriScience
• Ken Lohento, Digital innovation Strategy Consultant at FAO

They were joined by new additions: 

• Victor Mugo, Head of Global Partnerships at the World Food Forum
• Faith Dube, Head Business Development and Partner Services at Cassava SmartTech
• Barbara Chivandire, General Manager-Reimagine Rural Africa at Higher Life Foundation

 

ABOUT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL

Since 1944, Heifer International has worked with more than 40 million people around the world to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Working with rural communities across Africa for 48 years, Heifer International supports farmers and local food producers to strengthen local economies and build secure livelihoods that provide a living income. For information, visit https://www.heifer.org.

 

ABOUT GENERATION AFRICA

Generation Africa is a thematic platform of the AGRF, whose mandate is to strengthen the ecosystem for youth entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector across Africa. From its start in 2019, Generation Africa has brought together industry leaders, government institutions, NGOs, NPOs, and community platforms to collaborate on ecosystem development, curation and support of agribusinesses, research and advocacy, and the inspiration of young people to embrace opportunities in the agrifood sector. Find out more at https://genafrica.org 

 

ABOUT THE AGRF

The AGRF is the world’s premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. Under AGRF’s current strategy, the Forum is particularly focused on driving progress of the Malabo Declaration by 2025 as the priority set of commitments African Heads of State and Government have made to strengthen agricultural development at the centre of the continent’s overall development and progress. The AGRF is organised by the AGRF Partners Group, a coalition of institutions that care about Africa’s agriculture transformation. For more information visit https://agrf.org   

 

Contact: Jane Machigere

jane@jsmcommunications.com

www.genafrica.org  

Pitch competition awards cash prizes to youth technology innovators in Africa’s agriculture and food sectors

Nairobi: AGRF, Heifer International and Generation Africa today announced the launch of Pitch AgriHack 2022, marking the second year the organizations have come together to provide cash grants that accelerate entrepreneurial growth and job creation in Africa’s agriculture sector. Pitch AgriHack identifies innovative youth-led businesses with technological solutions to food security challenges, awarding the most impactful businesses with cash grants, media visibility and investor exposure.

“Pitch AgriHack is about promoting digital jobs and smart technologies that appeal to the youth. This competition calls on the innovative minds of Africa to empower themselves and their communities by harnessing and developing ground-breaking technologies in the agrifood sector,” said Dickson Naftali, Head of Generation Africa. “We see a bright future on the horizon for the youth of Africa. Generation Africa, with the help of its partners like Heifer International, is working tirelessly to smooth out the obstacles that have traditionally prevented young people from embracing opportunities in the agriculture and food value chain.”

During Pitch AgriHack 2022, US$45,000 in prizes will be awarded to six winners in three open competition categories. Businesses can compete as Early-stage, Mature or Growth-stage, and Woman-led ventures. Farm equipment manufacturers, agricultural drone services for precision farming, data and analytics providers, mobile apps, online crowdfunding and finance platforms, e-commerce and logistics services, and more, have all featured strongly in previous Pitch AgriHack competitions.

“At Heifer International, we believe agriculture can be a major driver of economic growth and employment across Africa,” said Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President for Africa Programs at Heifer International. “African youth hold the key to unlocking this potential. Their innovation will transform the food and farming sector, providing new jobs and increasing food security. We were impressed with the young agritech entrepreneurs who pitched their businesses as part of last year’s competition, and we are excited to see the new innovations 2022 will bring.” 

“There is a hope – a very real hope – that the youth of Africa will throw out the legacy problems created in the food system over the last 100 years and come up with tech-enabled, nature-positive solutions that fast-track Africa’s food production capacity to create jobs and make the continent self-sufficient,” said Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President of AGRA and Former Special Envoy to the UN Food Systems Summit “High-profile competitions that reach millions of young people, like Pitch AgriHack, is playing a big role in agriculture.”

The Pitch AgriHack 2022 finals will see the Top 12 applicants face off in a business pitching contest at the African Green Revolution Forum Summit (AGRF) in September. Finalists will participate in the AGRF Agribusiness Deal Room, where over 800 companies, 15 government delegations and 150 public and private investors will convene to generate exciting new opportunities.

A fourth invite-only category known as the AYuTe Africa Challenge, sponsored by Heifer International, will award up to US$1.5 million in grants to scalable ventures that are already generating measurable impact for Africa’s smallholder farmers. Winners from the 2022 AYuTe Africa Challenge will also be featured at the AGRF Summit.

Applications for Pitch AgriHack are open from 20 June 2022 to 29 July 2022 at https://genafrica.org/pitchagrihack. African founders or co-founders, aged 18-40, of technology-based and digital services businesses in the agriculture sector are eligible to enter the 2022 competition. The Top 12 applicants will be selected by an expert jury, followed by an award ceremony where three category winners and three runners-up will receive cash grants to grow their businesses.

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ABOUT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL

Since 1944, Heifer International has worked with more than 39 million people around the world to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Working with rural communities across Africa for 48 years, Heifer International supports farmers and local food producers to strengthen local economies and build secure livelihoods that provide a living income. For information, visit https://www.heifer.org.

ABOUT GENERATION AFRICA

Generation Africa is a thematic platform of the AGRF, whose mandate is to strengthen the ecosystem for youth entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector across Africa. From its start in 2019, Generation Africa has brought together industry leaders, government institutions, NGOs, NPOs, and community platforms to collaborate on ecosystem development, curation and support of agribusinesses, research and advocacy, and the inspiration of young people to embrace opportunities in the agrifood sector. Find out more at https://genafrica.org

ABOUT THE AGRF

The AGRF is the world’s premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. Under AGRF’s current strategy, the Forum is particularly focused on driving progress of the Malabo Declaration by 2025 as the priority set of commitments African Heads of State and Government have made to strengthen agricultural development at the centre of the continent’s overall development and progress. The AGRF is organised by the AGRF Partners Group, a coalition of institutions that care about Africa’s agriculture transformation. For more information visit https://agrf.org

Contact: Jane Machigere

jane@jsmcommunications.comwww.genafrica.org

African agritech innovators win cash awards to grow and scale their businesses in the seventh Pitch AgriHack competition.

Nairobi, Kenya: Six youth-led agribusinesses showcasing market-ready innovations for African farmers – which include mobile crop processing machinery, produce delivery services and e-commerce and farm financing platforms – won a share of the US$45,000 Pitch AgriHack 2021 competition today at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF).

The companies, which now have an opportunity to attract new investments via the AGRF Agribusiness Deal Room, were competing in three categories: Early-stage, Mature/Growth-stage, and Women-led.

In a fourth, invitation-only category, known as the AYuTe Africa Challenge, US$1.5 million in grants were awarded to two youth-led agritech businesses that are increasing access to emerging technologies for smallholder farmers across Africa to grow their businesses and incomes.

The Pitch AgriHack competition, aimed exclusively at youth-led African businesses bringing technological innovation to the agriculture sector, is sponsored by Heifer International and hosted by Generation Africa, a thematic platform of the AGRF.

“The youth of Africa have a crucial role to play in our continent’s food and farming future. Food systems change is one of the most pressing global issues as humanity negotiates a new balance with the natural world amidst the undeniable impacts of climate change,” said Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of AGRA and Special Envoy to the UN Food Systems Summit. “Pitch AgriHack is a wonderful initiative that awards youth-led innovative agricultural businesses. At the intersection of technology and agriculture, new innovations have the capacity to enable and uplift smallholder farmers, and drive agricultural transformation across Africa.”

The Pitch AgriHack Winners for 2021:

The winners of the three open competition categories are:

Early-Stage category:

Winner – Jeffrey Appiagyei of SAYeTECH Company Limited in Ghana. Jeffrey’s company designs and manufactures climate-smart agricultural machinery that increases productivity of smallholder farmers. https://www.sayetech.io/

Runner-up – Gabriel Eze of Rural Farmers Hub in Nigeria. Gabriel’s company provides agricultural services with a core product, called Capture™. https://ruralfarmershub.com/

Mature- and Growth-Stage category:

Winner – Mahmud Johnson of J Palm in Liberia. Mahmud’s company has created innovative labour-saving technology for Liberia’s smallholder farmers, helping them to produce wild palm oil more profitably and efficiently, while not contributing to deforestation or animal habitat destruction. https://kernelfreshpremium.com/

Runner-up – Gladys Amiandamhen of Farmcrowdy Limited in Nigeria. Farmcrowdy has developed a technology ecosystem called Farmgate with various innovative software products, to help farmers maximize their output and increase their profits. https://www.farmcrowdy.com/

Women-led Agribusiness category:

Winner – Ore Alemede of GrowAgric in Kenya. Ore’s company provides a full technology end-to-end solution that optimizes the entire agriculture value chain, providing small and medium-scale farmers with training, marketing linkages and accessible working capital. https://growagric.com/

Runner-up – Nomaliso Musasiwa of Fresh In A box in Zimbabwe. Nomaliso’s company offers an innovative e-commerce platform that connects smallholder and urban farmers of fresh local produce as well as other food products with customers locally and globally enabling payments to be made from anywhere in the world, an important feature linking diaspora family members with loved ones at home. https://freshinabox.co.zw/

Winners of the Invite-Only AYuTe Africa Challenge run by Heifer International:

• ColdHubs – solar powered cold storage for developing countries. https://www.coldhubs.com
• Hello Tractor – connecting farmers to nearby tractor owners via a mobile app. https://hellotractor.com

“Pitch AgriHack and the AYuTe Africa Challenge support youth-led technological innovation in the agriculture sector. We believe that the agricultural sector has the potential to provide future jobs for Africa’s growing youth population, while advancing the continent’s food security agenda,” said Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President for Africa Programs at Heifer International.

The Pitch AgriHack 2021 winners will receive continued support as they develop and grow their enterprises. Individual profiles have been made public on the genafrica.org platform and reviewed for relevance to their investor community.

Nearly 600 business owners from 37 African countries applied to the competition. Countries represented at the finals at the AGRF Summit were Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

“Generation Africa is proud to be the host of Pitch AgriHack 2021. Competitions like this, and the entrepreneurial communities that are shaped around them, give young agripreneurs access to the tools and expertise they need to make their businesses successful,” said Head of Generation Africa, Dickson Naftali.

A seasoned panel of food systems experts with extensive experience across the African agrifood and technology sectors served as judges.

“Seeing the ideas that are coming from young entrepreneurs across Africa makes me very excited about the future of agriculture on our continent,” said Ebunoluwa Bolodeoku, Head of Business Transformation for Africa at Heifer International, and Pitch AgriHack judge.

The judges for the 2021 Pitch AgriHack competition were:

• Ebunoluwa Bolodeoku – Head Transformation, Africa – Heifer International
• Elisée Kamanzi – Country Director, Rwanda, Heifer International
• William Matovu – Country Director, Uganda, Heifer International
• Ken Lohento – Digital Innovation Strategy Consultant, FAO
• Nixon Gecheo – Senior Program Officer – Digital Systems & Solutions for Agriculture, AGRA
• Barbra Muzata – Communications and Brand Leader, Africa Middle East – Corteva Agriscience
• Grace Vuhya Obeda – Principal Youth Employment Expert at African Development Bank
• Hafou Touré-Samb – SME Development and Finance Specialist also from African Development Bank

ABOUT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL

For 77 years, Heifer International has worked with more than 36 million people around the world to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Working with rural communities across Africa for 47 years, Heifer International supports farmers and local food producers to strengthen local economies and build secure livelihoods that provide a living income. For information, visit https://www.heifer.org.

ABOUT GENERATION AFRICA

Generation Africa is a thematic platform of the AGRF, whose mandate is to strengthen the ecosystem for youth entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector across Africa. From its start in 2019, Generation Africa has brought together industry leaders, government institutions, NGOs, NPOs, and community platforms to collaborate on ecosystem development, curation and support of agribusinesses, research and advocacy, and the inspiration of young people to embrace opportunities in the agrifood sector. Find out more at https://genafrica.org.

ABOUT THE AGRF

The AGRF is the world’s premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. Under AGRF’s current strategy, the Forum is particularly focused on driving progress of the Malabo Declaration by 2025 as the priority set of commitments African Heads of State and Government have made to strengthen agricultural development at the centre of the continent’s overall development and progress. The AGRF is organized by the AGRF Partners Group, a coalition of institutions that care about Africa’s agriculture transformation. For more information visit https://agrf.org.

Contact: Jane Machigere

jane@jsmcommunications.comwww.genafrica.org

Agricultural technology is extensive. Agritech can be as complex as an actual farm robot, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, to plant, water, and weed your grow beds. Or it can be as simple as a USSD code that lets a rural farmer access this week’s weather forecast and planting advice on a 15-year-old cell phone.

With global attention on the drastic need for food systems change, all eyes are on agritech to provide solutions. This has led to a flood of opportunities and incredible growth in the sector in recent years.

Growth in African Agritech

Africa is booming. According to research done by Microsoft, reported in Farmers Review Africa, “Between 2016 and 2019, the sector grew by 44% year-on-year and the continent has registered the highest number of agritech services in the developing world, reaching over 33 million smallholder farmers to date.”

Even considering the effects of the pandemic on world economies, the AgFunder 2021 report found that global agrifood technology companies raised more than US$30 BILLION in investment during 2020. And in Africa, investments in agritech companies grew by 23.7% in 2020 reports Business Daily Africa.

Why the Growth?

The challenges faced by food systems in Africa are numerous. And challenges mean opportunities. But African food systems aren’t the only ones that need a refresh. Globally there is a mass movement to rethink the way we produce food to be beneficial for the planet and for people.

Discovering fresh Africa-centric solutions to guide struggling communities out of poverty and into a food secure future, will set an example for global food systems change.

The real test for agritech will be whether it can help farmers and the agri-food value-chain build resilience.

Resilience against shocks

Agritech is “increasingly playing a crucial role in cushioning small-scale farmers against the crop-damaging effects of climate change and the economic pain of the pandemic,” says a recent article by Thompson Reuters Foundation.

The piece highlights how Kenyan farmer Wesley Lang’at made the switch to phone-assisted farming to access inputs, financing, and weather information. This move allowed him to reinvent his small farming business to be more profitable despite the pandemic.

Across Africa, digital platforms offering market linkages have seen a spike in users since the start of the pandemic. Farmers are searching for customer who will pay a fair price. They are trying to maximise their income without losing their hard-earned profit to middlemen.

This definitive shift in farming behaviours has been noticed.

Eyes on Africa

A recent Mckinsey report found that, “In sub-Saharan Africa alone, more than 400 digital agriculture solutions are in use, including applications in financial services, market linkages, supply-chain management, advisory and information services, and business intelligence.”

Additionally, “the Ireland government has declared Africa a key partner with which it wants to collaborate on sustainable food production and technology development,” states an Engineering News article.

The wheels have been set in motion. More funding opportunities like Pitch AgriHack, and the Ayute Africa challenge, sponsored by Heifer International, are incentivising young African women and men to bring their solutions to market.

Increasing productivity, increasing incomes, and creating an environment that allows a sustainable primary production value-chain to flourish, is what agritech is all about.

The future and the opportunities belong to the young African agritech entrepreneurs who positively impact real outcomes for farmers.