Over 800 companies, 15 government delegations and 150 public and private investors convened at the Dealroom to generate exciting new opportunities.
The winners of the Pitch AgriHack 2022 have emerged among African agritech innovators.
The 8th edition of Pitch AgriHack 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 2022 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 realise 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, digitising 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.
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.
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.
Runner-up: Allan Coredo of FarmIT in Kenya
Automated crop disease detectors, agri-fintech solutions for smallholder farmers, digitising 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.
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.
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.
Runner-up: Allan Coredo of FarmIT in Kenya
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
Source: techeconomy