In the 1950s, before the discovery of oil in Niger Delta, agriculture was Nigeria’s primary source of income; even in 2001, agriculture contributed 32% to Nigeria’s GDP. 82 million hectares out of Nigeria’s total land area of about 91 million hectares were found to be arable, although only 42 percent of the cultivable area was farmed on as at 2001. This is why Nigeria should be one of the top agricultural producing countries in the world, and why developers should pay attention to this potential.
But innovation in the agricultural sector, especially mobile innovation, faces at least two major challenges:
1. While there is a proliferation of mobile apps that provide market information, few of these have been adopted widely across the African continent, making it difficult to achieve scale and profitability.
2. Despite proven benefits of mobile agri apps, the mobile entrepreneurship community and the agribusiness community often suffer from a lack of obvious linkages and ways to collaborate.
In this light, infoDev’s Mobile Innovation program, in partnership with Sweden, is announcing the mAgri Challenge. The mAgri Challenge is an opportunity to identify entrepreneurs developing innovative mobile agri apps in Africa, and provide them with additional resources to further commercialize their products.
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In the challenge, five teams will be invited to a mobile startup camp in November 2013 for a chance to refine models and practice pitching their businesses to angel investors.
Who Should Apply
InfoDev encourages you to apply if you are an entrepreneur:
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With a mobile business based in Africa,
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Who has a working prototype of a mobile agriculture application that has growth potential,
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Who is looking to grow your business both locally and abroad, and
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Who is interested in innovative business approaches and coaching that could be applied to your business to drive its growth.
How To Enter
To enter the mAgri Challenge for a chance to attend the Mobile Startup Camp, the following must be sent to zlu1@worldbank.org by August 15th, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time:
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Completed Questionnaire: Completing this questionnaire will also allow your app to be featured in the GSMA’s mAgri Deployment Tracker.
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Pitch Deck: Your business pitch must be submitted in the PowerPoint template provided. It should not exceed 11 slides, excluding the title slide/cover page.
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Prototype Demo: Upload a one minute video to YouTube or Dropbox that demonstrates your product, and include the URL in your submission. In the event that a video cannot be created, screenshots and descriptions (not to exceed 750 words) are permissible.
Five finalists will be invited to attend the Mobile Startup Camp in November. Economy airfare and accommodations will be provided.
For more information about the competition or application process, email zlu1@worldbank.org.
