Microsoft, Sterling Bank, NITDA Boost Agriculture Value Chain

In what appears to be a yet another milestone in the Nigerian Agricultural sector, Microsoft, in collaboration with Sterling Bank Plc , NITDA and TedPrime Hub announced three agro-digital solutions as winners at the just concluded Microsoft Agro-Tech Hackathon in boosting value chain in agriculture.

The grand finale, which was held in Lagos featured 10 solutions by the Nigerian youths from Abuja FCT, Benue, Enugu, Jos, Kaduna, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Sokoto.

The winning digital solutions: Sell Harvest, Farmsquare and Farmers’ Market were announced as first (with N2.5 million), second with (N1.5 million) and third position with (N1 million) respectively by Sterling Bank after rigorous pitch rounds and product testing reviews by season experts and independent jury drawn from Agriculture, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Research and Development sectors.

The National Hackathon which commenced on March 2022 with the ultimate goal of designing digital solutions that bolster value chain in agriculture and connect thousands of farmers to end-product users together for the next decade was designed by Microsoft in partnership with Sterling Bank and NITDA.

Speaking at the opening session, the Microsoft Country manager, Nigeria and Ghana; Olatomiwa Williams reiterated the position of Microsoft in harnessing the potentials of African youths to support the continent by raising over 40,000 home grown Start-ups in critical sectors as envisioned by Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.

“It is Microsoft’s pleasure to onboard these creative youths as finalists at this occasion into the exclusive Microsoft Global Entrepreneurship Program,” Williams said.

Group head, Agric & Solid Minerals Finance of Sterling Bank, Dr. Olushola Obikanye expressed his delight on the new milestone in the Nigeria’s agricultural sector through a robust digital transformation framework as one of the five pillars of Sterling Bank’s approach to National Development outside its core banking services.

Director-general, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa noted that sustainable innovation and creativity among the young people of Nigeria remain the heartbeat of the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency.

Microsoft Agro-Tech Hackathon is an innovative competition that engages Nigerian youths from different backgrounds across Nigeria as agric experts, software developers and entrepreneurs to collaborate and curate digital solutions that transform the agricultural sector at scale.