Winners have emerged in the Pitch AgriHack 2018. The awards were presented in front of African leaders: H.E. Paul Kagame, President, Republic of Rwanda; H.E. William Samoei Arap Ruto, Deputy President of Kenya; H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President, Republic of Ghana; H.E. Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, Prime Minister, Republic of Gabon.
The two categories of start-ups, early stage, those just launching and advanced stage, were judged on criteria including problem(s) addressed, unique value proposition, market addressed, current market traction and revenues.
The winners of the early stage category, Illuminum Greenhouses Kenya, Kenya; Fenou Packaging, Benin; Develop Digitally, Jamaica; Farmignite Company, Nigeria – were rewarded grants of between €5000 and €7500.
In the advanced category, CowTribe Africa, Ghana; Agro Innova, Ghana; Ankora Global Services, Nigeria; CLIN SARLU (e-agribusines), Togo received grants between €12000 and €15000. A special prize offered by Suguba Africa to the best Francophone start-up led by a woman was awarded to Fenou Packaging, Benin.
The theme for 2018’s competition was “Women entrepreneurs innovate for agricultural transformation in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific”. 26 start-ups, 14 of which are women-led, from 9 countries were selected out of 325 young AgriTech start-ups that applied.
Michael Hailu, Director, CTA: “These are entrepreneurs who have been inspired to make a difference – to help transform agriculture for future generations and to encourage young people to see the potential in farming and agribusiness. They are showing a pathway to enable the modernisation of agriculture. They are shining a light on the hope that will greatly improve rural lives and make agriculture attractive and profitable to youth who are too often migrating to cities in search of better opportunities.”
The panel of judges comprised: Professor Ruth Oniang’o; former winner of the African Food Prize; Ethel Cofie; Founder of EDEL technology also named as one of the Top Five Women impacting IT in Africa; Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl, Managing Director of the African Innovation Foundation; Chiji C Ojukwu, former Director of the Department of Agriculture and Agro-industry at the African Development Bank and Thomas Festerling; CFO and Managing Partner of GreenTec Capital Partners.
Since the launch of CTA’s AgriHack Talent Initiative, at least 1 million farmers and agricultural stakeholders have been reached by services provided through the use of applications developed in the process. Start-ups, mostly information and communications technologies (ICT) based innovations, have raised more than two million Euros from other investors and partners.
Pitch AgriHack 2018 is organised with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Suguba Africa. Other collaborators include Women in Tech Africa and Wennovation Hub.
