Nigeria’s agritech startup RiceAfrika.com has emerged as one of the 17 winners for the Circulars Accelerator Cohort 2022 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in a globally live-streamed event from Davos, Switzerland.
The Circulars Accelerator is an action-oriented, six-month accelerator programme for circular economy innovators.
Members benefit from 1 on 1 mentorship along with workshops and coaching modules to support them in scaling their businesses. They also get access to the WEF UplLnk platform and opportunities to engage with investors.
The 17 start-ups selected from nearly 400 applicants for a place in this year’s accelerator are among the most innovative startups making an impact in the world from 74 countries that participated in months of interviews, pitches, and a very thorough and exhaustive selection process.
Over 32 million USD was raised by startups in the cohort of 2021 between January and June 2021.
RiceAfrika.com uses technology to boost local rice and wheat production by improving the capacity of local rice and wheat farmers in Nigeria through the deployment of its IoT-enabled, eco-friendly harvester machines, precision farming solutions, and guaranteed off-take of produce at farmgate.
Commenting on the feat, Technology Entrepreneur and Founder of RiceAfrika, Ibrahim Maigari Ahmadu, said; ”It is truly an honor for us to be selected, and be among these amazingly creative innovators in the cohort of 2022.
“Even though these are early days for our humble objective of moving rural rice and wheat farmers in Nigeria from manual harvesting to mechanical, we are excited about this global recognition.”
Ifeoluwa Olatunji, RiceAfrika’s Country Head in Nigeria, also said ‘’This is an amazing opportunity for us to learn and network with circular economy industry leaders and investors as we scale our operations to other parts of Africa.’’
Led by Accenture, in partnership with Anglo American and Ecolab, and in collaboration with UpLink and the World Economic Forum, the Circulars Accelerator connects ground-breaking circular economy-focused entrepreneurs with industry leaders and investors to scale innovation across the value chain.
