Three Kenyan startups have won funding for the African Continental Challenge seeking solutions to problems faced by small-holder farmers.
The competition, dubbed “AYuTe Africa Challenge,” is an initiative by Heifer International Kenya and has Sh2.4 million as seed money to top their business.
The winners are Optimerce Consulting Ltd., which digitizes the process of produce collection at farmgate through mobile apps and topped the contest. The company is owned by innovator John Waweru.
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Joshua Gitonga, the founder and CEO of RafikiPay, a company that deals with the processing of sunflower, groundnut, soya and canola oil from hybrid seeds, took the second position.
Agrodiverse Ltd., Kenya, headed by managing director Grace Kyarimpa, was third.
The company converts insects, earthworms into sources of protein in animal feed and high-quality organic fertilizers.
The champions of the inaugural Heifer International AYuTe Africa Challenge (Kenya) were chosen from a field of young agritech innovators from across the country.
This competition is designed to target companies that have developed a tech solution to address smallholder farmer challenges with strong scale potential.
The three have received grants of Sh1 million, Sh750,000, and Sh250,000, respectively.
There were 15 other contest finalists who will benefit from a three-month accelerator and mentorship program.
Besides the top three innovations, other finalists included Azma Foods Ltd., Digital Farmer, Ento (insects) Solutions Ltd., Farm Mall, Farmerline Technologies, Limachain, Nalima Digital, Shambaline Ltd., and Soluvax.
Also in the contest were Stofresh Africa, Toothpick Company Ltd., and Vermi-Farms Initiative Ltd.
Midway through last year, Heifer International Kenya launched the AYuTe Africa Challenge Kenya to promote and reward agriculture technology innovation across different agricultural value chains in Kenya.
The applications for the challenge ran from June 14 to July 14, 2022, while the proposal evaluation pitching and judging were concluded by August 31.
“Having worked with farmers for many years, we see the AYuTe Challenge as an opportunity to identify young innovators, walk with them through the journey of fine-tuning them, and link them to opportunities to scale up those ideas,” said Esta Kamau, Country Director, Heifer International Kenya.
According to 2021 study by Heifer International pointed to the need for more investments to embrace agriculture as a desirable career.
They offer funding, training, and access to agricultural technology, which are identified as the three key areas to encourage youth involvement in agriculture.
The competition is powered by E4Impact Accelerator, and it aims to offer young entrepreneurs in Africa the opportunity to pitch for investment in their agritech solutions to boost the incomes and productivity of Africa’s smallholder farmers.
“As E4Impact, we were delighted to be involved by Heifer International Kenya in providing capacity building, training, and mentoring of the young agri-tech innovators,” said David Cheboryot, director of the E4Impact Entrepreneurship program.
The national competition represents a new phase of Heifer International’s AYuTe Africa Challenge, established in 2021 to award cash grants annually to the most promising young agritech innovators from across Africa.
