MIT Africa Innovate Conference - Pitch Competition
Aquaponics, tech enabled recycling, food waste and more!
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Last week was this year was MIT’s 11th annual Africa Innovate Conference. The theme for this year’s conference was “A Way Forward: Leveraging Innovation as a Catalyst for Growth.” In this spirit, the conference highlighted the innovative approaches companies have used to overcome challenges from the pandemic and ways companies on the continent of Africa are moving towards the future.
The pitch competition in particular featured seven early-stage ventures that are focused on Africa. I really enjoyed hearing from these founders and how they are creating impact in various sectors across the continent. Starting with the winners and in no particular order following, below are the finalists from this year’s Africa Innovate Conference Pitch Competition.
Ziada
Winning first place and the grand prize of $5k was Ziada. Based in Nairobi Kenya, Ziada is a platform that connects service providers in the informal sector with clients seeking their services. They also provide business advisory and access to equipment rental.
Ziada helps both skilled and unskilled independent service providers put their businesses on the map and at the fingertips of potential customers. The platform also provides service providers with customer analytics, business advisory, retention strategies, tools, and equipment leasing. The company is also planning to launch digital payment services soon.
Ziada is in the process of raising their pre-seed financing. They are currently pre-revenue, but already have a ton of traction with 28,000 registered users and 5,000 service providers. (Getziada.com)
AquaFarmsAfrica
Winning both second place ($3k) and audience choice ($2k) was AquaFarmsAfrica. AquaFarmsAfrica strives to grow clean, fresh, organic produce from farm to table using the most efficient, sustainable, and safe technology available.
AquaFarmsAfrica is using aquaponics as a tool to catalyze food sovereignty and youth employment across the continent. The company is using a franchise based business model, and recently trained 30 franchisees who are currently in the process of onboarding. Employing about 5 people per franchise, the company focuses on young women employees and franchisees, specifically those that are college graduates or have experience in agriculture.
According to AquaFarmsAfrica, aquaponics produces 10 times the quantity in a 12x12 meter area compared to traditional farming and uses 70% less water. Compared to hydroponics, it also uses less energy. This aquaponic approach allows them to focus on city centers and more easily train and onboard their franchisees. (aquafarmsafrica.co)
The next five finalists did an incredible job pitching as well:
GIVO is a circular economy company leveraging tech to upcycle plastic waste into valuable goods. They're building a network of tech enabled modular recycling centers across underserved communities in Africa (Givo.africa)
Kuzimba Services is an e-payment solution that provides access to construction materials and professional services (Kuzimba.com)
Eshet Africa is generating electricity by using small river water in rural areas of Ethiopia. They're on a mission to fill homes with light, and have already established their MVP
Zua is solving the problem of food waste and environmental pollution in Rwanda. They're doing this by establishing solar cold rooms that keep, and agro-process the unsold food before spoilage
Roaktif is helping Nigerian SMEs lower their electricity costs and increase their access to credit
I hope you enjoyed reading about each of these startups! If you want more of these recaps directly to your inbox, subscribe below: