This past month, Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, founder and CEO of ColdHubs, a Nigerian business that provides solar-powered, walk-in coolers for smallholder vegetable farmers and Jehiel Oliver, founder and CEO of Hello Tractor, a Kenyan company that has become known across Africa as the “Uber of tractors,” emerged winners of the inaugural US$1.5 million Heifer International AYuTe Africa Challenge.

The winners, known as the 2021 AYuTe Africa Champions and chosen from an impressive field of young agritech innovators from across the continent, were announced on the 8th of September at the 2021 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Summit. “Across Africa today, young, creative professionals are deploying tech innovations that are reimagining farming and food production,” said Adesuwa Ifedi, senior vice president of Africa Programs at Heifer International.

HELLO TRACTOR IS SET TO PILOT A NEW PAYG TRACTOR-FINANCING PRODUCT WITH THE $1 MILLION PRIZE AWARD FROM HEIFER INTERNATIONAL
In a presentation at the World Economic Forum in June 2016, Kenyan-born Calestous Juma, a professor at Harvard University, explained the world’s perception of African agriculture. “From newspaper editors to TV anchors to bloggers, the default symbol of African agriculture is an …
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COLDHUBS WILL EXPAND INTO NEW MARKETS THANKS TO A $500,000 GRANT FROM HEIFER INTERNATIONAL
Food waste is a global issue; one-third of all food produced is never consumed, 1.2 billion people go to bed hungry or undernourished, and the adverse effect of food waste on the global economy is in trillions of dollars. The African continent is not exempt from …
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ADESUWA IFEDI DISCUSSES THE IMPACT OF AGRITECH INNOVATIONS AND YOUTH ENGAGEMENT IN AFRICA’S AGRICULTURE
Agriculture accounts for approximately 23 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP. Smallholder farmers account for more than 60 per cent of the region’s population. Yet, Africa’s full agricultural potential remains untapped due to several factors ranging from a lack of investment to low tech adoption and poor youth participation. With nearly 80 per cent of Africans under the age …
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