Kenyan youth and women-led agribusinesses will now be able to access $100,000(Sh10.8million) as an investment for their companies through the FoodTech Africa accelerator.
The project is commissioned by GIZ Make-IT in Africa, a Norwegian based accelerator and an investment platform operating in East Africa that matches African startups with investors, foundations and development agencies to reach a global scale.
This comes at a time when a recent report by the Kenya Food Security 2019 Steering Group revealed that, approximately 1.3 million people in Kenya are currently facing a crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity, which has been further exacerbated by Covid-19.
“We are grateful to GIZ Make-IT in Africa for appointing this project to Pangea and Strathmore University to drive food security in Africa through the FoodTech Africa program,” said Jonas Tesfu, CEO and Co-Founder of Pangea Accelerator.
In a recent webinar by the accelerator, agripreneurs made it apparent that there are significant interests and support in the sector particularly for agri-based enterprises looking to expand.
Selected businesses who will be accepted into the program are looking at a 10-week intensive training on business coaching and mentorship, B2B sales opportunities as well as the opportunity to interact with investors with leading high potential companies getting an investment of up to $100,000.
“We are positive that this program will provide access to skills, market and finance to the selected Agtech start-ups,” said Tracy Weru, Program Coordinator for GIZ Make-IT in Africa.
