Agri-tech firm Farm Central Intelligence has emerged as the winner of this year’s AFEX Code Cash Crop 4.0 Ag-hackathon.
The startup which seeks to develop an extensive database of agricultural information that can be accessed via a mobile app, WhatsApp chatbot, or a USSD platform beat five other finalists to take home the $10,000 winning prize.
In second and third place were Kenyan MCHE and Silo Africa, who received $5,000 and $3,000, respectively.
This year’s edition drew participation from Kenya, for the first time, following AFEX’s operational expansion into the East African country last year. The grand finale, which was held in Lagos, Nigeria, over the weekend, produced three winners.
Themed ‘Scaling Market-led Solutions,’ this year’s Ag-hackathon, which received over 100 applications over a 3-month period, pulled together the most daring and innovative solutions that addressed gaps across data, logistics, and extension services for Africa’s agriculture value chain. These were narrowed down to the 25 best, for which boot camps were held across three African cities to select the finalists, who later converged in Lagos for the final boot camp and live-pitch sessions with judges. The criteria for selecting winners throughout the challenge were four main parameters: viability, profitability, scalability and feasibility of each solution.
In between pitches, the event featured panel sessions with industry professionals such as Associate Dean of Lagos Business School, Professor Yinka David-West, Co-Founder of GetEquity, Jude Dike and more, sharing insights on meaningful conversations cutting across Agriculture, Technology and Finance.
President of AFEX Nigeria, Akinyinka Akintunde, speaking at this year’s finals, stated, “With Code Cash Crop, we remain dogged in our mission to provide a platform for young talents to create custom-fit models for the everyday and emerging Agricultural market realities. AFEX will continue to organise Code Cash Crop to empower more young people to think innovatively about Agriculture and deploy financial and mentorship resources to encourage them to transform Africa’s food systems through technological innovations. This year, we have had the pleasure of reviewing thoughtful applications and engaging with extraordinarily bright minds. We are therefore proud to present our incredible mix of Nigerian and Kenyan winners as judged by our stellar panel.”
Commenting on the win, Mr Yakubu, founder of Farm Central Intelligence said “Winning CCC 4.0 is a life-changing opportunity for me as an entrepreneur, and I would like to say ‘thank you’ to AFEX and its partners for the initiative. I am also grateful for the constructive feedback I received during the boot camp to improve my solution. I look forward to using this competition’s prize money and networking opportunities to scale up my business and actualise my dreams.”
Code Cash Crop is an industry event that harnesses innovation across the agriculture, finance and technology sectors to solve problems related to Africa’s food systems. Through the annual challenge, AFEX empowers young tech talents and entrepreneurs in Nigeria and Kenya with the necessary resources to build profitable agric business models, thereby fulfilling its commitment to investing in the future of Africa.