RECAP: 2018 AGRITECH INCUBATION STARTUP DEMO DAY
Crop2Cash a startup which aims at connecting farmers to capital and profitable markets, with a vision of becoming the world’s leading provider of agricultural solutions emerged winners of the 2018 FCMB-Wennovation Hub AgriTech Incubation Startup Demo Day. The event which took place on the 27th day of August 2018 at the FCMB building Victoria Island Lagos, was organized by Wennovation Hub a pioneer innovation accelerator in Nigeria since 2011.
Crop2cash team, which includes Michael Ogundare and Seyi Alabi won a Cash Prize of ₦1,250,000(One Million Two Hundred and Fifty thousand Naira) with unrestricted access to fully serviced workspace for 6 months, access to our local & international networks; 6 months mentorship with 1–1 mentor-mentee pairing; market, leveraging our existing community and partners among others. The team had a functioning prototype to demonstrate in front our judges and audience at the demo day and will now have the chance to take their startup and idea to the next level.
The Runner- up (second place), DilivasBox. Dilivas Box reaches deep into the food chain to get produce from farmers then sell directly to our customers in a neatly customized package to match a corresponding recipe which is prepared by nutritionists and chefs to make healthy living more accessible and affordable. They won a shared prize of ₦1,000,000(1million Naira).
The Wennovation Hub incubation program is set to help early stage entrepreneurs validate their ideas, build sustainable business models and attract follow-on investments. This Program aims to attract the best startups in the Agricultural sector and provide them with appropriate technical and commercial resources as well as community support to expand their ideas into successful businesses with a global impact.
“We are very excited to organize this event , proving that Wennovation Hub plays a huge role in ensuring that locally developed innovations are engaged in solving the myriads of challenges in the agricultural sector.” Michael added that the AgriTech incubation Program and all its related activities, would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) “Thanks to them, we are now working on building a regional and international network through our partnership, which ultimately benefits our participating startups”.
The Startups had 5minutes to pitch and were judged based on Idea and Market Validation, Impact, Innovation, Sustainability, and finally Prototype. Ten (10) teams pitched in front of our grand jury.
Our Panel of Jury included Michael O Oluwagbemi–Executive Partner Wennovation Hub; Kudzai Gumuyu– FCMB Divisional Head, Agric Business; Emeka Eboegbune– Chief Digital Officer FCMB; Ladipo Lawani– CEO of Landfoodsng; Rolayo Akhigbe — FCMB Divisional Head.
The 2018 Wennovation-FCMB Agritech incubation program was was supported generously by First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Other supporters included Banwo and Ighodalo and Emory University’s Entrepreneurship Database Program.
