Modou NS Njie of Farm Fresh has been selected to compete at the AgriPreneur International Championship in South Africa from 10 – 15 March 2017 during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
The New Gambia and indeed all Gambians should be proud of this breakthrough achievement on our journey of entrepreneurship and innovation said Abdoulie M Touray, the Global Entrepreneurship Network Resident Representative in the Gambia.
He further stated that this accolade is equivalent to Gambia’s qualification for the World Cup, he deserves our unflinching support on this well merited Journey of Excellence.
Farm Fresh is an online fresh food store that aims to close the agricultural value chain gap from production to market by setting up an online food store to market fresh products and deliver them to the customers’ doorsteps.
The full media press release from the Future Agro Challenge can be read below:
Media Release
Athens, 15 February 2017
Innovators compete for Agripreneur of the Year
– Future Agro Challenge a global initiative to discover fundable ventures in
Food, Agtech, and Agriculture from farm to fork
Fifty world-class innovators in food, ag tech and agriculture will compete for the Agripreneur of the Year title at the 3rd Future Agro Challenge (FAC) Global Champi- onships during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) to be held on 12-15 March, 2017 in Johannesburg.
In just three years, Future Agro Challenge has managed to mobilise participation from more than 60 countries over five continents to identify ground-breaking agro initiatives addressing national, regional, and global challenges across the food sup- ply chain.
“The food chain is broken. We need a bottom-up approach to identifying new and sustainable solutions to current and future challenges. Innovators, who have submitted high-calibre applications to the FAC, are positioned to help us address those challenges. Agripreneurs must be on the frontline and the FAC ecosystem, including all our national stakeholders are committed to help them succeed,” Carla Tanas, Future Agro Challenge co-founder said.
This year, Future Agro Challenge is partnering with Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development for the Global Agripreneurs Summit 2017, a four-day event that connects innovators with investors and key stakeholders in the food and agribusiness sector.
The Global Agripreneurs Summit is a highlight on the industry calendar and is hosted in part by Industry Disruptors, Industrial Development Corporation, Sida through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the South African Department of Science and Technology, also a co-host of the GEC.
The Summit provides participants with access to:
- Investor matchmaking and funding opportunities
- Like-minded start-ups, industry leaders and potential clients
- Business models and strategies’ evaluations with mentors
- An innovation marketplace
- Recognition awards through the FAC Global Championships
- International media
STARTUPS COMPETING AT THE 3RD FAC GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIPS include: 8Villages, Adaptive Symbiotics Technologies, AgroCenta, Agron Solutions, Agruppa, AquaFarm Ltd., aQysta, Asgard Project, Aybar Engineering, BRCK Education, Cassava Biomass, CityCrop, Conservation South Africa, CSABateke Project, EM3 Agri Services, Farm Fresh Online, FutureWater, Green Heat, Green Path, Guano Fertilizer Mozambique, HappyFarmer, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), ICU Jordan, ICU Peru, Ignitia, Karaw Craftventures, LARBE Project, MetaMeta/Salt Farm Texel, MIT Tata, MUHR Natural Products (Wild Garden Project), My Rain, Nutrishake Andino, Osma Hassan Ali Tabid, Platinum Compost, Practical Action Bangladesh, Ranch Du Sahel, Real Agricultural Solutions For Africa, Reel Gardening, Refill Dominicana, Revolution Agriculture, Save Our Agriculture, Seed Forward, Semila, Si Technologies, Smart Villages, Smart Watering, Taqa Solutions, Water Governance Institute, World Hope, and Zenvus.
MORE INFO
The 2016 Future Agro Challenge winner was VACuCh, an antibacterial milk liner that mitigates bovine mastitis and reduces the amount of bacteria in milk.
Nicolás Morelli, COO at VACUCH, last year’s winner, explained that through this experience, the firm has managed to sell their milk liner to its first formal client. “We have been contacted by all the big players in the Chilean industry; distributors, huge dairies, veterinarians, etc. We are negotiating with providers to produce our master batch and organising all the operations with the joint venture with the Argentinian manufacturer to satisfy this demand. And the media attention keeps on going!”
In 2015, FAC received Global VIP Recognition, and Bermuda Aerial Media, the global winner of FAC 2015, was invited to visit the White House. www.facagro.com
INDUSTRY DISRUPTORS – GAME GHANGERS (ID-GC)
ID-GC is a grassroots organisation promoting innovation and entrepreneurship with a focus on start-ups and extroversion. Our mission is to break down barriers for entrepreneurs that will become industry disruptors and game changers with global reach. We deliver this through a competitive process that brings together entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, and key stakeholders.
We focus on industry sectors that offer a competitive advantage, through the exploitation of the unique characteristics and entrepreneurial potential in the region, specifically agri-business, tourism, energy, creative industries, healthcare and clean-tech, while we consider innovation and new technologies to be a horizontal priority.
Since its foundation in 2012 as a non-profit organisation to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Greece, South East Europe and East Med regions, ID- GC has helped 2.890 founders, awarded €643.500 in cash, designed 3 masters degrees and offered 22 scholarships worth of €264.000.
IG-DC has expanded its global reach through a bottom-up approach. In just three years, our global highlight Future Agro Challenge (FAC) has taken on its own organic growth to over 60 countries across five continents. FAC is a leading competition that discovers fundable ventures in food, ag tech, and agricultural from farm to fork. We aim to unlock new and natural capabilities that reduce unfavourable impact on the earth’s soils, oceans, or human and animal health.
SECURING WATER FOR FOOD: A GRAND CHALLENGE FOR DEVELOPMENT
Securing Water for Food enhances access to innovations that help agricultural producers grow more food with less water, enhance water storage, and improve the use of saline water and soils to grow or process food. Through a competitive process, the program has pre-screened and selected only the highest potential water-for- food innovations and provides grant funds and ongoing acceleration assistance to support their business development.
Since 2013, USAID, Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Government of South Africa, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands have invested $35 million and provided critical acceleration support to promote science and technology solutions that en- able the production of more food with less water and/or make more water avail- able for food production, processing, and distribution in developing and emerging countries.
Since 2013, SWFF has provided funding and acceleration support to 28 innovators. SWFF innovators combined have helped save approximately 2 billion litres of water, helped produce nearly 290,000 tonnes of food, and reached more than one million farmers and other customers in 28 countries.
Congratulations my brother. Keep it up