AICCRA And BongoHive Host Demo Day With Top 3 Agri-Startups

09/08/202309/08/2023 TechTrends

Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) is an initiative that enhances access to climate information services (CIS) and validated climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies in Africa.

Last year, AICCRA partnered with BongoHive in the AICCRA Zambia Internship and Innovation Grant (I2G) to generate or develop innovative solutions through value-creating interactions within the agricultural sector.

The challenge was a call for young Zambians/SMEs with innovative solutions in the GreenTech, Smart Cities and Fintech sectors and recent graduates to develop viable ideas and prototypes addressing challenges in the abovementioned sectors.

Following the successful incubation of the top 3 teams selected in the challenge, namely; Green Giraffe Zambia, Junior Agriprenuer Hub Africa and Climate Smart Organic Farmers; the 3 winners have showcased their solutions to both BongoHive and AICCRA project implementors and key decision-makers in the agricultural sector.

Demo day is meant to highlight the growth and impact that the three startups have undergone through incubation as they move to the next stage of the program where they will be attached as interns to established businesses in line with their service offering.

Junior Agripreneur Hub

The organisation helps students identify and develop their entrepreneurial competitive skills and helps them place in the Agriculture Value Chain opportunities through a program designed for primary and secondary schools called Junior Agripreneur. They have assisted students in building life skills and entrepreneurial skills to help them create value on their own. ‘We prepare students for the next industrial revolution in agriculture technology by exposing them to Data-Driven Farming Methods, Climate Smart Agriculture, Value addition and Global markets. We partner with schools that have students from primary and secondary and we teach them the skills. The skills we impart include Agriculture skills, Entrepreneurship Skills, Financial Literacy, Technological Skills and Team Building. We provide an exciting package that makes work fun and educative. We introduce students to sustainable ways of producing food along the Agriculture Value Chain. Climate Smart Agriculture across the AgValue Chain is the pith and fulcrum of our lessons. This includes regenerative agriculture, conservation farming and design thinking.’

Green Giraffe

Green Giraffe offers third-party logistics for food processors looking to supply to the premium market. Their value proposition is twofold; for the farmer/cooperative food processor it is access to a premium market for their goods and services; for the consumer is safety, affordability and convenience. This will be achieved through a mixed model that includes revenue share with food processors wanting to list their products on the platform. Green Giraffe (GG) seeks to create a Multi-Sided Platform Business that enables connection between food processors and food consumers and makes it easier for them to find and relate to each other. Food processors now can enjoy increased income generation from value addition, while consumers enjoy the simplicity, affordability and convenience of having these nutritious Zambian flavours delivered to their doorstep. ‘We believe providing market opportunities from small-scale food processors will increase incomes for low-income communities and foster adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices.’

Climate Smart Organic Farmers

They make organic fertilizers, pesticides and other agro organic products. ‘We make our fertilizers using a process called vermicomposting, by-products of this process are what we use as fertilizer. Vermicast(worm poop) is used as a solid soil amendment and vermiwash (a liquid that accumulates in the vermicwe also cultures our own worms. We create our products from biowaste, so we basically help cut gas emissions by utilizing waste and transforming it into eco-friendly products that benefit the whole ecosystem. This will also help all Zambian farmers have easy access to affordable fertilizers that will play a very important role in the growth of plants even when there’s some drought being experienced.’