Deadline: February 16, 2022
Applications are invited for the Africa AgTech & Inclusive Insurance Challenge 2022. The Challenge aims to celebrate and support young entrepreneurs who are working at the intersection of agriculture, insurance, climate, and gender to build resilience for smallholder farmers.
Businesses should have an existing insurance product for rural farmers, or be working towards introducing an insurance product as an additional product or service offering. The Africa AgTech & Resilience Challenge will support 5 finalists with one-on-one support to refine their business models, investment collaterals, and prepare for exposure to the investment community. Three winners will be awarded cash prizes to scale, refine, or launch innovative insurance products.
Thematic Areas
Businesses should be operating in one of the thematic areas below:
- Data & Analytics: Enterprises that are innovating with the latest generation technology by:
- Improving data collection regarding crop yield and weather, and/or help forecasting
- Using latest generation remote-sensing and imagery solutions to collect data on crops or livestock
- Leveraging machine learning, AI, or block chain to improve efficiencies
- Agriculture Productivity: Enterprises that increase the resilience of small holder farmers through:
- Offering agronomy support
- Providing climate smart advisory services
- Connect peer to peer learning through chat-bots or platforms
- Reduce losses through pest control solutions
- Assist in the management of livestock or crops through early warning detection systems
- Financial Inclusion for Ag: Enterprises that are empowering small holder farmers through access to finance through:
- Offering loan underwriting services
- Providing credit offerings or asset-based financing services
- Offering insurance products
- Using technology to score credit-worthiness
- Offering peer to peer lending services or crowdfunding services
Benefits
If selected, you could have the opportunity to:
- Win a Cash Prize to scale or launch an insurance product
- 1st Place wins $25,000
- 2nd Place wins $15,000
- 3rd Place wins $10,000
- Receive one-on-one investment readiness support to improve the pitch and investment ask, as well as refine investment collateral
- Advisory services from IFC insurance technical specialists
- Pitch to an eminent Grand Jury and get feedback to
- Share your business model with global investors
- Attend the Sankalp Africa Summit 2022 (online and in-person) in Nairobi, where you can meet a global network of investors, donors, and entrepreneur support organization
- Leverage dedicated exhibition space for your business to gain visibility and generate leads
Eligibility
- Business owners must be under 30 years of age;
- Businesses must be operational in sub-Saharan Africa;
- Applicants must have a registered, for-profit business and generating revenues;
- Run a high-impact business that caters to rural communities, youth, and/or women;
- Operating in one or more of the following sectors: AgInsurance, AgTech, FinTech, Gender & Inclusion;
- Have a clear for-profit business model with high potential for scale;
- Have an experienced and dedicated promoter team;
- Are looking for funding in the range of USD $10,000 – $1,000,000.
Application
Applications will close at midnight GMT on February 16, 2022. Late applications will not be considered.
For more information, visit AgriTech & Inclusive Insurance Challenge.
