Nigeria has again shown that it is the hub for African technology startups as 6 Agrotech innovations are among the 26 finalists selected for the 2018 Pitch AgriHack. Nigeria is closely followed by Kenya and Benin with 5 and 4 representatives respectively. The Caribbean is represented by three young businesses. A total of 325 applications were initially received from 36 countries within the African Carribean and Pacific region.
Discover the 2018 #PitchAgriHack finalists, activity organised by @ctaflash with the support of @AfDB_Group & our organisation. #Women in #agtech is its focus. The final will be held at AGRF #digitalisation #womenInTech. Congrats to finalists. More -> https://t.co/AI5c2vs6Pl pic.twitter.com/3yhJbTxfqt
— AgriTech (WeHub) (@AgriTechWeHub) July 11, 2018
The 26 finalists were selected from a pool of 86 semi-finalists. Out of the 26 finalists, 14 are companies led by women founders or co-founders (53%). This is fully in line with the theme of this competition which is: “Women entrepreneurs innovate for agricultural transformation in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific”.
The assessment criteria were the following: Proposed solution, Agricultural problem(s) addressed, Unique value proposition, Team composition, and added value, Market addressed, Current market traction, Cost structure, Channels/Paths to customers, Revenues stream, Planned milestones and Key performance indicators.
The Pitch AgriHack 2018 is a youth e-agriculture start-up support program of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).
Here are the startups
a) Advanced platform category
- Lawyers 4 Farmers, Uganda (Women-led)
- Archeos, Benin (Women-led)
- Savanna Circuit Tech Ltd, Kenya (Women-led)
- Solar Freeze, Kenya
- AgroInfoTech Africa, Nigeria (Women-led)
- Daily Fresh Farms, Nigeria (Women-led)
- GO Ltd, Rwanda
- Agro Innova, Ghana
- CLIN SARLU, Togo
- UjuziKilimo Solutions, Kenya
- PREMIUM HORTUS,Benin
- CowTribe Africa, Ghana (Women-led)
- Ankora Global Services, Nigeria (Women-led)
b) Early stage platform category
- Crop2Cash Ltd., Nigeria
- Develop Digitally, Jamaica
- Illuminum Greenhouses Kenya, Kenya
- ZuriCap Ltd, Kenya
- Agrisolve, Ghana (Women-led)
- Agro VCM Solutions Limited, Jamaica (Women-led)
- Codettes, Suriname (Women-led)
- JINUKUN, Benin
- Farmignite Company, Nigeria (Women-led)
- FENOU PACKAGING, Benin (Women-led)
- Kitovu Technology Company, Nigeria
- AGRISOFT, Togo (Women-led)
- AKABOXI, Uganda (Women-led)
The finalists will take part in a boot camp and pitching sessions in Kigali, Rwanda, from 03 to 08 September 2018, on the occasion of the 2018 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), organised by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and partners.
They will benefit from capacity building and will have the opportunity to pitch their solutions to development partners and potential investors as well as a new panel of judges.
Winners will be announced on the closing day of the AGRF which will gather about 1000 participants including high-level government and private sector representatives. The theme of AGRF 2018 is “Lead. Measure. Grow: Enabling new pathways to turn smallholders into future agribusinesses”.
Up to nine start-ups will be selected as winners, thanks to the support of partners notably the African Development Bank (AfDB). Each winning team will receive a cash prize of up to €15,000, and benefit from promotional support, additional capacity building, and networking opportunities. Up to five women-owned startups will be selected as winners.
