By Onome Amuge
Nigerian-based agricultural technology company, ThriveAgric, recently emerged the West African winner of the annual AYuTe Africa Challenge, receiving a $1m grant prize as reward.
Organised by Heifer International, the Agriculture Youth Technology (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.
The AYuTe Africa Challenge is considered 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.
ThriveAgric’s recognition is the second in the last three months for the leading agritech firm, having emerged the overall winner and Visa Direct winner of the global Visa Everywhere Initiative 2022 last December.
Speaking on the achievements, Uka Eje, CEO and Co-Founder at ThriveAgric said the endorsements are an encouraging validation of the hard work the firm has put in through the years and pointers that it is 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 said.
Citing a McKinsey report, ThriveAgric noted that agriculture in Africa has a massive social and economic footprint as it 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, the fast growing agritech firm observed that smallholder farmers are battling new levels of economic and ecological challenges in farming.
