Zero hunger roundtable launches innovation sprint in nigeria
LAGOS -The Zero Hunger Roundtable – a multi-sector forum aimed at collectively addressing food challenges - today launched an initiative to foster innovative approaches to end hunger, championed by Nigeria’s entrepreneurs.
Ten cutting edge start-ups have been selected to take part in the first “Zero Hunger Sprint – Nigeria’s Innovation Challenge”. Participants will compete for a cash prize fund of $250,000, mentorship from an investor company, and a six-months SprintProgramme designed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
“Nigeria’s private sector is alive with ideas. We need to tap into that energy to ensure there is enough nourishing food foreveryone”, says Simone Parchment, WFP Deputy Country Director. “WFP is excited to do this in Nigeria which leads the way in showing how African solutions and home-grown talent can help solve global problems”.
Starting this week, the innovators (listed below) will take part in a customised bootcamp facilitated by the WFP InnovationAccelerator. Based in Munich, Germany, this is an initiative designed to fast track innovative solutions to food crises and help endhunger worldwide.
During the bootcamp, experts help teams sharpen their concepts and refine plans for success.
The initiative and the backing it receives help to support and contribute to Nigeria’s own efforts at achieving Sustainable DevelopmentGoal (SDG) 2 – which aims to bring an end to hunger.
“The tremendous challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed the fragility of our food systems. Transforming food systems to make healthy diets affordable to everyone is vital,” says Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
Inflation, combined with job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and persistent income inequality, continue to aggravate food insecurity and malnutrition. Since the start of the pandemic, food prices have increased more than 22 percent.
"This challenge will act as a bridge connecting private sector investors with start-ups,
stimulating innovative solutions geared towards more affordable and accessible food in Nigeria", says MD Ramesh, Group CEO,Agribusiness, TGI Group.
The finalists will showcase their proposals at a pitch event on the 30th July 2021 in Lagos to a group of leading private sector investors: TGI Group, Heineken, Promasidor, Tolaram Group, Guinness Nigeria Plc.
For more information please contact:
Chi Lael WFP/Nigeria, mobile +234 802 55 33 218, email: [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter: @WFPInnovation
THE ZERO HUNGER SPRINT TOP 10 FINALISTS
Releaf
Releaf invents industrial food processing technologies and uses them to scale cash crop factories in Africa.
A natural baby food company working to fight hidden hunger & connect affordability with accessibility.
A market access and production management platform that meets the farm produce needs of large buyers by supporting smallholder farmers with yield optimization, input, credit and expertise.
Crop2Cash creates trusted, verifiable credit scores and risk profiles for farmers to unlock much-needed finance to improve theirproductivity and income.
The Chowberry app connects people facing hunger to surplus food to improve their nutrition while creating a secondary market forfood producers.
Ecotutu provides end-to-end cold storage as a service, preserving food from harvest to last-mile distribution.
Eco-friendly and easily accessible refrigeration solutions, powered by solar energy and equipped with Pay-As-You-Go technology.
Kitovi helps smallholder farmers decrease their costs while increasing yields by providing farmers with crop and soil insights, andaccess to markets.
Agrorite helps smallholder farmers access credit, data driven advisory services and premium markets needed to help them have a successful farming cycle with a decent return. The company was founded in 2019
An online marketplace and crop testing service that connects smallholder farmers with premium buyers.