AgroCenta Stays Winning — They Just Won The WEDF Young Entrepreneurs Competition!
AgroCenta has won the Young Entrepreneurs Competition at the World Export Development Forum in Budapest, Hungary, beating off competition from Hungarian and Zimbabwean enterprises to take the grand prize of €5,000. The World Export Development Forum 2017 (WEDF) is organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade between 24 and 26 October.
AgroCenta’s co-founder, Michael Ocansey, won the panel of judges over with his pitch for the company’s online platform, which enables farmers to use their phones first to market their products online and then to access trucking services to get their products to buyers.Receiving the award on behalf of AgroCenta, Ocansey, who is the company’s chief technology officer, said: ‘This pitching event has been a tough experience, especially since all four companies were pitching similar ideas. This meant I had to work extra hard to be more articulated, but simple enough to still sell AgroCenta well. Even if we hadn’t won, the opportunity ITC gave us to pitch on such a world stage is in itself enormous.’
During a session at WEDF, finalists in the Young Entrepreneurs Competition — all aiming to improve business opportunities for farmers through disintermediation and market intelligence — presented their pitches to a jury of impact investors and CEOs. In addition to AgroCenta, the competing companies were Agrk Group (Zimbabwe), Refresh (Hungary), and Supp.li(Hungary).
The jury — composed of Ms. Anna Guenther, Founder, PledgeMe, New Zealand; Mr. Alberto Constans, Vice President, Opportunity Network, Spain; and Mr. Adrame Ndione, Partner, Ebano Finance, France — assessed the four companies based on their value proposition, social impact, market potential, team strength, and financial model.
The pitching competition was organized by International Trade Centre’s Youth and Trade Programme. Impact Hub’s Accelerate 2030 Programme identified the two African finalists, and Budapest-based Design Terminal the two Hungarian finalists, following a competitive process. All four finalists will benefit from free mentorship from ITC and its partners to improve their products, services, and business models.
Watch an interview with Michale Ocansey of AgroCenta:
The runners-up
Zsolt Balog of Hungary-based Supp.li presented an online platform that connects European food producers with hotels, restaurants, retailers and distributors, making buying and selling food easier, faster, safer and more affordable.
Daniel Lind of Refresh, based in Hungary and Portugal, presented a solution that turns fruits and vegetables destined for the garbage heap into juices, jams, and other goods for sale. Refresh has a related platform called Lettuce Grow that directly connects farmers to small businesses.
Pascal Nyasha of Agrk Group presented a market intelligence platform that allows players in the agricultural sector, from small-scale farmers to policymakers and association members, to access quality market information. As part of the platform, farmers can also use a live chat system to connect with agronomists and buyers.
For more information on WEDF 2017, please visit http://www.intracen.org/wedf
Originally published at gharage.
