The challenge sponsored by the World Bank and Nest seeks to engage techpreneurs who can come up with scalable ideas that can be commercialised to grow the sector.Kenyan entrepreneurs have a week to submit applications for this year’s Agritech Challenge that aims to spur collaborative innovation in Kenya’s agriculture sector.Those that qualify to submit applications for the challenge include start-ups, budding SMEs and teams of people in agribusiness, logistics or supply chain technologists.College students with compelling ideas about building creative, technology-enabled solutions around pressing challenges in the agriculture value chain and have the ability to execute them are also allowed to apply.Starting August, the teams of innovators and entrepreneurs picked will work closely with agribusiness industry veterans to conceptualise and co-develop solutions around some of the most pressing challenges in the local value chains.“The 2-month long co-creation activity will include integration-focused workshops, one-on-one interactions with industry veterans, and structured product development,” said the World Bank.Each team will strive to develop a prototype or customise a solution in partnership with experienced operational professionals.What they come up with will then be presented to senior executives and investors at a Demo Day for potential commercial adoption and scale.Applications for the challenge opened on July 4 and will be vetted on a rolling basis.Shortlisted applicants will be invited for interactions and exploratory site visits with the corporate partner ahead of a pitch day in end-July to select the final cohort for the programme.The Demo-day, which will give teams a chance to set their prototype on the path to potential commercialisation's set for October 6.Teams will be chosen based on commercial and tech viability of the proposed solution, overall application quality and articulation.

Share news tips with us here at Hivisasa