Agricultural technology company, ThriveAgric, has emerged the West African winners of the annual Agriculture Youth Technology (AYuTe) Africa Challenge, receiving a $1 million grant prize as reward.
Organised by Heifer International, the AYuTe Challenge was set up to support young entrepreneurs working to scale food security on the continent by developing and deploying affordable tech solutions to impact smallholder farmers.
In a press statement, made available to LEADERSHIP, the CEO and co-founder of ThriveAgric, Uka Eje, said, this achievement is an encouraging validation of the hard work the company has put in through the years.
“This points to the fact that we are on the right path. Our desire to create more impact among African smallholder farmers and also expand to new territories is a major driving force for us, as we aim to develop the largest network of profitable farmers in Africa. We remain resolute with our goal of reaching one million farmers this year in Nigeria alone,” Eje added.
The AYuTe Africa Challenge is one of the most ambitious agriculture competitions on the continent, with a vision of combining the power of African youth with the many possibilities of emerging technologies to support smallholder farmers across Africa to grow their businesses and incomes.
In addition to the cash grants, it also deploys a team of expert advisers and accomplished business veterans to support AYuTe Africa Champions as they translate this funding into business expansion strategies.
Agriculture in Africa has a massive social and economic footprint. According to McKinsey, agriculture makes up about 23 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP with more than 60 percent of the population being smallholder farmers. With demand increasing and supply in shortfall, smallholder farmers are battling new levels of economic and ecological challenges in farming.
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