AFRICA – In pursuit of accelerating entrepreneurial growth and job creation in Africa’s agriculture sector, AGRF, Heifer International and Generation Africa has launched Pitch AgriHack 2022.
This is the second year the organizations have come together to provide cash grants, media visibility and investor exposure to innovative youth-led businesses with technological solutions to food security challenges.
Dickson Naftali, Head of Generation Africa said, “Pitch AgriHack is about promoting digital jobs and smart technologies that appeal to the youth
“Generation Africa, with the help of its partners like Heifer International, is working tirelessly to smooth out the obstacles that have traditionally prevented young people from embracing opportunities in the agriculture and food value chain.”
As part of the competition prize, US$45,000 will be awarded to six winners in three open competition categories i.e., early-stage, mature or growth-stage, and woman-led ventures.
Farm equipment manufacturers, agricultural drone services for precision farming, data and analytics providers, mobile apps, online crowdfunding and finance platforms, e-commerce and logistics services, and more, have all featured strongly in previous Pitch AgriHack competitions.
“At Heifer International, we believe agriculture can be a major driver of economic growth and employment across Africa. African youth hold the key to unlocking this potential.
“Their innovation will transform the food and farming sector, providing new jobs and increasing food security. We were impressed with the young agritech entrepreneurs who pitched their businesses as part of last year’s competition, and we are excited to see the new innovations 2022 will bring,” said Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President for Africa Programs at Heifer International.
“There is a hope – a very real hope – that the youth of Africa will throw out the legacy problems created in the food system over the last 100 years and come up with tech-enabled, nature-positive solutions that fast-track Africa’s food production capacity to create jobs and make the continent self-sufficient.”
The Pitch AgriHack 2022 finals will see the Top 12 applicants face off in a business pitching contest at the African Green Revolution Forum Summit (AGRF) in September.
The Top 12 applicants will be selected by an expert jury, followed by an award ceremony where three category winners and three runners-up will receive cash grants to grow their businesses.
Meanwhile, finalists will participate in the AGRF Agribusiness Deal Room, where over 800 companies, 15 government delegations and 150 public and private investors will convene to generate exciting new opportunities.
A fourth invite-only category known as the AYuTe Africa Challenge, sponsored by Heifer International, will award up to US$1.5 million in grants to scalable ventures that are already generating measurable impact for Africa’s smallholder farmers. Winners from the 2022 AYuTe Africa Challenge will also be featured at the AGRF Summit.
Last year’s champions of the inaugural AYuTe challenge were Nigeria’s ColdHub and Kenya based Hello Tractor.
“There is a hope – a very real hope – that the youth of Africa will throw out the legacy problems created in the food system over the last 100 years and come up with tech-enabled, nature-positive solutions that fast-track Africa’s food production capacity to create jobs and make the continent self-sufficient.
“High-profile competitions that reach millions of young people, like Pitch AgriHack, is playing a big role in agriculture,” said Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President of AGRA and Former Special Envoy to the UN Food Systems Summit.
Applications for Pitch AgriHack are open from 20 June 2022 to 29 July 2022. African founders or co-founders, aged 18-40, of technology-based and digital services businesses in the agriculture sector are eligible to enter the 2022 competition.
Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE
