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infoDev, under its Mobile Innovation program in partnership with Sweden’s Sida has launched the mAgri Challenge to identify creative ideas and test concepts, and pursue collaborations in a move that will see the growth of mAgri app businesses across the African continent.
According to infoDev, “Mobile innovation in the agricultural sector faces two major challenges. While there is a proliferation of market information mobile apps, few of these have been adopted widely across the African continent, making it difficult to achieve scale and profitability and secondly, despite proven benefits of mobile agri apps, the mobile entrepreneurship community and the agribusiness community often suffer from a lack of obvious linkages and ways to collaborate.”
This competition aim to end that. The mobile apps will provide market and extension information and increase purchasing power of farmers and also improve agricultural supply chain integration, increase access to extension services, and facilitate global market links.
According to infoDev many exciting agricultural apps have been developed to provide market information but few apps exist in the business-to-business value chain. The gap ought to be filled by mobile innovators to not only includes farmers, cooperatives, input suppliers and wholesalers, but also agro-processors, retailers, consumers, logistics, and packaging providers.
“Applications that focus on value chain integration could create business opportunities, reduce inventory management costs, improve quality control, and enhance the export potential of agricultural products and empower women entrepreneurs, as well as customers and suppliers at the base of the pyramid,” noted infoDev.
The mAgri challenge aims at providing entrepreneurs with tools and expertise to assist in the creation of viable mobile application businesses and is open to any entrepreneur with a mobile business based in Africa, or anyone working on a prototype of a mobile agriculture application and those looking to grow their business and seeing good growth prospects locally and/or abroad or those impatient to grow their market share and product portfolio in their quest to grow their business.
How to Apply
Step 1 – SUBMIT your concept and completed form to [email protected] Your app will be featured in the GSMA’s mAgri Deployment Tracker and eligible for consideration in our upcoming mAgri challenge. Step 2 – COMPETE by entering your business plan into the mAgri challenge for a chance to pitch before investors in November 2013. All submissions must be received by July 31st, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. Step 3 – PITCH Select finalists will be chosen to pitch their products before a panel of industry experts in November 2013. The Challenge will be kicked off at the end of May and completed by the end of November 2013. Have questions about the competition or application process? Email them to [email protected]
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