AYuTe Africa Challenge
About the challenge
“Funding, training, and access to agricultural technology remain as three key areas that the youth can be supported in to encourage them to embrace agriculture as a desirable career” – Heifer Kenya. AYuTe Africa Challenge Kenya is an initiative by Heifer International that seeks to support the youth by promoting agricultural innovation in Kenyan youth towards contributing to the country’s food security. Heifer Kenya has been working closely with E4Impact Entrepreneurship Center, Kenya since 2022 to develop and execute a strategic direction for youth, agriculture, and technology in line with their mission and approach.
The AYuTe Africa Challenge Kenya 2022 journey demonstrated the great potential of the Kenya youth to provide innovative solutions for the agriculture sector. Meet the top 15 innovations from which the following top three innovations were awarded:
The 2023 AYuTe Africa Challenge Kenya was on course from February to August 2023 and targeted innovative agri-tech solutions below 3 years since inception – responding to the needs of the agri-value chain at various levels (e.g., production, aggregation, post-harvest losses management, value addition, access to markets, financing, etc). 21 innovations emerged as the finalists from which 8 were awarded as the ultimate winners. This year’s winners were drawn from two categories namely ideation and product-stage as follows:
Product stage category winners:
The ideation stage category winners:
In addition, One Million Avocados (applying technology to improve the production and quality of avocados) and Agronomy Plus won a scholarship award from Astral Aerial. The top 21 innovators from the challenge went through a 2-month incubation program training at E4Impact Kenya; and continue to access technical support such as linkage to investment, networks and markets, coaching, and mentorship opportunities.
Partners
