The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
ColdHubs of Nigeria and Hello Tractor of Kenya, have been selected as the winners of the inaugural AYuTe Africa Challenge that has hosted by Heifer International.
The initiative was aimed at sparking technological innovations for Africa’s young farmers.
ColdHubs was recognised for its solar-powered pop-up cooling stations; while Hello Tractor was recognised for its creative solution to Africa’s farm machinery challenges.
The winners, known as the 2021 AYuTe Africa Champions, were chosen from an impressive field of young agritech innovators from across the continent.
The announcement was made today 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 Mrs Adesuwa Ifedi, senior vice president of Africa Programs at Heifer International.
“We want to do our part to help companies like Hello Tractor and ColdHubs as they
provide Africa’s smallholder farmers with much-needed products and services to develop sustainable, profitable business.”
The two winning companies will receive a sizeable monetary investment – a total of US$1,5 million in grants – along with ongoing support from a team of expert advisers accomplished business veterans, to help them translate their funding into an aggressive expansion strategy.
This is part of Heifer International’s efforts to support young entrepreneurs developing affordable tech innovations to scale their businesses.
This ensures greater access to services that enable African farmers to overcome long-standing challenges while encouraging a new generation to pursue opportunities in agriculture.
