2024 MEST Africa Challenge: 7 AgTech startups in race for $50k

MEST Africa Challenge (MAC) – the continent’s leading pitch competition for Africa’s emerging tech entrepreneurs – has announced the seven startups selected to compete for the grand prize of $50,000 in equity at its 2024 edition.

The 2024 Challenge, held in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy, aims to identify and support exceptional AgriTech entrepreneurs addressing critical agricultural challenges in West Africa.

Here are the ‘Chosen Seven’!

🎯 AgroSfer (Benin):  A marketplace connecting agricultural cooperatives with industry by aggregating and streamlining the supply of produce from smallholder farmers.

🎯 Afrikamart (Senegal): A B2B food supply platform that supplies fresh fruits and vegetables from smallholder farmers in rural areas to vendors in urban centres.

🎯 AquaTrack (Nigeria): offers fish farmers a comprehensive management tool, a community for knowledge-sharing, and a direct marketplace for sales.

🎯 GEM Industrial Solutions (Ghana): Provider of commercial unmanned aerial systems services intended to provide cost-effective geospatial data to farmers.

🎯 InterSIP (Senegal): An innovative communication platform integrating SMS, IVR, and AI that enables businesses, as well as government agencies, to create scalable campaigns.

🎯 SAYeTECH (Ghana): Designs and manufactures smart agricultural machinery powered by loT to reduce post-harvest losses and boost efficiency.

🎯 Tolbi (Senegal): Utilises satellite imagery and AI to deliver data-driven insights to smallholder farmers, agribusinesses, and stakeholders, empowering climate-smart agricultural practices.

This year will mark the 6th edition of MAC. MEST will provide the winning startup with investment capital, coaching and access to a global network of resources and partners as they build and scale successful businesses that add value to African economies and livelihoods.

in 2024, contestants for MAC will be based in West Africa with a focus on the following key markets: Benin, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mali and Togo. For the first time, MAC will also place a sectoral emphasis on agri-tech,  recognising its immense potential to drive sustainable development and economic growth in Africa.