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pitch competition targeting young technology innovators in Africa’s agriculture and food sectors has opened for applications.
pitch competition targeting young technology innovators in Africa’s agriculture and food sectors has opened for applications.
Pitch AgriHack identifies innovative youth-led businesses with technological solutions to food security challenges, awarding the most impactful businesses with cash grants, media visibility and investor exposure.
African founders or co-founders, aged 18 to 40, of technology-based and digital services businesses in the agriculture sector are eligible to enter.
The competition, the brainchild of African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), Heifer International and Generation Africa, is marking its second year. The three organisations, once again, will provide cash grants to help accelerate entrepreneurial growth and job creation in Africa’s agriculture sector.
In a statement, the organisers say during Pitch AgriHack 2022, $45 000 in prizes will be awarded to six winners in three open competition categories.
Businesses can compete as 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 all featured strongly in the previous competition.
“Pitch AgriHack is about promoting digital jobs and smart technologies that appeal to the youth,” says Dickson Naftali, head of Generation Africa.
“This competition calls on the innovative minds of Africa to empower themselves and their communities by harnessing and developing ground-breaking technologies in the agrifood sector.
“We see a bright future on the horizon for the youth of Africa. 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.”
Adesuwa Ifedi, senior vice-president for Africa programmes at Heifer International, comments: “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.”
Dr Agnes Kalibata, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and former special envoy to the UN Food Systems Summit, says: “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, are playing a big role in agriculture.”