Leading agricultural technology company, ThriveAgric, has recently emerged as the West African winners of the annual AYuTe Africa Challenge, receiving a US$1mn 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.
This recognition is the second in the last three months for ThriveAgric, having emerged the overall winner and Visa Direct winner of the global Visa Everywhere Initiative in December 2022. The intense 12-month competition had over 4000 startup founders from North America, Latin America, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific to showcase payments innovations.
Speaking on the achievements, Uka Eje, CEO and co-founder at ThriveAgric said, “These endorsements are an encouraging validation of the hard work we have put in through the years and pointers that we are 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.”
Agriculture in Africa has a massive social and economic footprint. Part of ThriveAgric’s work is to ensure that infrastructural buffers are in place to mitigate against extreme conditions that may threaten smallholders’ livelihoods or a nation’s food security. Having recorded great success in Nigeria, ThriveAgric is looking to deepen its roots in West Africa as well as expand to the East of the continent as part of its goal to reach 10 million farmers by 2027.
