Pitch AgriHack, a competition organised by CTA to support young agricultural entrepreneurs (agripreneurs), has awarded over £60,000 to several startups for their innovations transforming agriculture in Africa.
The winners of the early stage start-ups are Profish, Ghana (€7,500), and Savanna Circuit Tech, Kenya (€5,000).
For the mature stage start-up Jaguza Tech, Uganda (€15,000); Arinifu Technologies, Kenya (€12,500). Trackball Global Technologies Nigeria were given the public choice award (€5,000).
The Data Analytics Award went to Foodlocker Limited, Nigeria (€10,000) and the GreenTec award to TechShelta Company Ltd., Ghana (€5,000).
In a statement, Michael Hailu, Director, CTA said: “It’s a rewarding legacy for CTA, which has pioneered support for digital entrepreneurship among young people in the agricultural sector. Through Pitch AgriHack we have discovered self-taught youngsters, who are full of ideas and determination, and who are providing answers to some of Africa’s persistent challenges.”
The applications range from software to track the production of milk from farm-to-market; a mobile-based web application to improve productivity; low-cost handheld devices to detect animal diseases; an online-based food processing and delivery service; cloud-based livestock management system; using Internet of Things (IoT) devices to connect farmers to agronomists; and an application designed to provide to logistics and market services.
The 22 finalist start-ups, 11 of which are women-led, from seven countries were selected out of 326 young start-ups that applied. Earlier in the week the finalists underwent training through a boot camp process before pitching their innovations to potential investors and a judging panel.
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Since the launch of the AgriHack Talent initiative, the services of entrants have reached over one million farmers and agricultural stakeholders and they have raised over €2 million from investors and partners.
The competition was organised in 2019 with support from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), OCP Group, GreenTec Group and with the contribution of the World Bank, FAO and other partners.
