Competition aims to enhance digital agriculture ecosystem in Egypt by empowering existing, potential entrepreneurs, particularly youth, women The German development agency, GIZ, held the closing ceremony of the Agri-Digital Startup Competition, in cooperation with Ain Shams University's Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Creativity Hub (IHub) as the strategic implementing partner. The ceremony was organized through the Agriculture Innovation Project (AIP) and in collaboration with the Arab Women's Enterprise Fund (AWEF), a women's economic empowerment development programme, The competition started last June with an objective to enhance and support the digital agriculture ecosystem in Egypt by empowering existing and potential entrepreneurs, particularly youth and women. 36 teams in the start-up stage and 41 teams in the idea stage from the agricultural innovation industry participated in the competition. The competition concluded with the successful introduction of the winning 3 startups to the market, paving their way to make a significant impact in the agricultural industry. Winning teams received a financial award of EGP 150,000 each. To benefit the winning start-ups further and ensure their sustainability, the AIP project agreed with the e-finance affiliate, AgriMisr platform, to host the start-ups on their platform, provide capacity building support and link them to the commercial market and investors. During the closing ceremony, Myriam Fernando, Project Manager of AIP at GIZ Egypt said, "The competition proves that innovation comes from the support of the private sector to young entrepreneurs who when given the opportunity, end up exceeding expectations." Startup Stage Winners ReNile, provides a farm monitoring solution that allows alerts in emergencies, remote control, data analytics for best practices for farming through an online platform – these solutions can increase the aquaculture and hydroponics industries productivity and income. Croposa: An agriculture community for linking the agricultural sector, from suppliers to consumers and services in an integrated platform. Technologically, this e-commerce platform can ensure access to up-to-date information and linkages with market suppliers. Cotton Town: The first Egyptian e-commerce platform for pure Egyptian cotton which can support the cotton value chain by addressing its main problems through best practices, market linkages and branding. Besides the startup stage winners, 3 idea stage winners were awarded EGP 10,000 each to help take their ideas further to launch their own startups. Idea Stage Winners Flankers: A complete solution combining deep neural networks, IoT, and mobile development for identifying different plant diseases and how to address them. Tamara: A platform that focuses on connecting farmers with suppliers, buyers, and experts by developing a full-fledged ecosystem for the agriculture value chain. Zar3ety: A platform for advisory services that provides diagnoses for plant diseases and suggests remedies that are purchasable from reputable manufacturers through the platform and can be delivered directly to the farm.
