AgriTech4Kenya Innovation Challenge 2024

Kenya faces significant challenges in achieving food security despite its fertile land. With annual food imports exceeding USD 1.1 billion and rising, and climate change impacts and urbanization intensifying, there’s an urgent need for innovative solutions.

The AgriTech4Kenya Innovation Challenge aims to address these issues by fostering science-based agri-tech innovations that are localized within the national context and driven by market demand. By bridging the gap between research and market adoption, the initiative supports sustainability, resilience, and efficiency in Kenya’s agriculture.

Accelerate your impact by joining them in shaping the future of agriculture to strengthen food security and ignite economic growth across Kenya.

Priority Areas

• Sustainable agriculture production
• Improved market access and supply chain efficiency
• Knowledge sharing and capacity building for gender and social inclusion
• Livestock health and disease management
• Equitable finance and investment mechanisms
• Water use efficiency and sustainable irrigation practices

Benefits

• Selected participants will receive the tools and step-by-step support to build the foundations of an impactful agri-tech venture with scalable growth in Kenya.
  • Develop an in-depth understanding of agriculture in Kenya
  • Benefit from a fully funded, 4-day immersive bootcamp in Nairobi, Kenya
  • Connect with a wide and diverse network of partners, agribusinesses and investors
  • Optimise solutions through direct exposure to CGIAR assets and industry-leading scientists and experts
• Reserved for participants who successfully graduate from the bootcamp
  • Enroll on a sponsored 4-month acceleration program, combining entrepreneurial training and technical assistance.
  • Test and validate your solution on the ground with end-users for up to four months
  • Gain strategic exposure to investors and market opportunities

Challenge Impact 

• Attract: Attract top-class innovators to tackle Kenya’s agricultural bottlenecks.
  Develop: Develop a pipeline of deployable, impactful and affordable solutions for farmers and value chain actors.
• Nurture: Nurture an enabling environment that attracts investments and de-risks innovative technology development.
• Empower: Empower rural communities, and in particular, women and young people.
• Propel: Propel economic growth by creating employment and fostering a skilled and equipped workforce.
• Align: Align efforts with the objectives of the Big 4 Agenda and the Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy in alignment with Vision 2030.

Who should apply?

• The AgriTech4Kenya Innovation Challenge is open to national and international agri-tech innovators. Participants can include individuals (e.g. entrepreneurs, practitioners, students, researchers, and scientists) representing innovative startups, small and medium-sized companies, research centers and universities, non-profit organizations, and social collectives.
• Participants should meet the following criteria:
  • A team must include at least two people who have taken a full-time commitment to their project.
  • The solution must address a real challenge hindering food security and climate resilience in Kenya and fall under at least one of the priority areas indicated in the call for applications.
  • The solution must align with one or more of CGIAR’s Impact Areas and/or research activities.
  • Applicants must show a proof-of-concept (POC) or minimum-viable-product (MVP).
  • Applicants must show some measurable indicators of market validation, such as, users/paying customers, pipeline of potential users/paying customers, revenues, etc.
  • Applicants can only submit original work for which they are the sole inventors and copyright holders. In the case of a group of co-founders, each founder must be reported in the application form and will be considered as a single application.
  • Applications must be submitted in English and participants must have the capacity to participate in a project delivered entirely in English.

For more information, visit AgriTech4Kenya.