Home Agribusiness Rwandan Agricultural Startups offering solution for Hunger

Rwandan Agricultural Startups offering solution for Hunger

by Kwabe Ben

The IGNITE Food Systems Challenge aims at investing in and supporting Rwandan venture that are contributing to improvement of food security in Rwanda.

The competition having begun a nationwide campaign saw a receivership of up to 280 applications among which 12 of the most innovative and entrepreneurial solutions emerged top in selection.

The 12 enlisted ventures comprised of; seven startups, four SMEs, and one cooperative. The ventures work in varied diverse sectors such as; waste management, food production, animal farming, and transport as well as logistics.

The food challenge organized by the UN World Food Program (WFP) and Impact Hub Kigali (IHK) had 6 Rwandan startups emerging victorious with each startup getting an allocation of $50,000.

Six Startups that won

Ironji Ltd is a youth-led venture that helps agribusinesses and other businesses to get low and affordable transport for their products. Ironji connects clients easily with drivers who are reliable and ready with a dynamic pricing model to make a stable and predictable price paradigm. With all of that, they ensure the security of one’s package. The idea was inspired by the want to match the demand and the scarcity of products.

Mago farms is a waste-to-nutrient insect-tech startup that converts food waste and post-harvest losses into organic fertilizer and protein for animal feed formulation. The company converts food waste into biomass and fertilizers. It is set out to provide a more environmentally beneficial alternative for food losses across the agricultural value chain in Africa.

Carl Group is a youth-led project that was created when entrepreneurs realized that adding value to orange-fleshed sweet potatoes could encourage people to eat more of the healthy crop.
The company presently produces and distributes orange-fleshed sweet potato bread and biscuits. These products are high in beta-carotene, which is the primary source of Vitamin A, and hence contribute to addressing Rwanda’s high levels of Vitamin A deficiency among young children and pregnant women.

Aflakiosk is a mobile lab that provides voluntary testing services of maize and capacity building for maize farmers, traders, and cooperatives, allowing them to understand the quality of the maize they are trading and enable them to access premium markets. Aflakiosk serves mainly in reducing the consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated maize products that affect humans and livestock.

Uruhimbi Kageyo Cooperative: This is a youth cooperative focused on solving the issue of the high cost of animal feed by providing affordable and nutritious animal feed through Hydroponic technology with water in use. This is done by technologically cultivating and selling green fresh livestock feeds (fodder) to farmers currently in Rwanda. The fodder is cost-effective and has subsidized the feeding burden. Milk increase in cows, Yellow egg yolk in eggs, and weight increase in pigs is proven with Hydroponics fodder feeding.

Zean is an agro-processing company that devotes its efforts to reducing post harvests loss. The company is doing it by producing banana chips from Bananas. The company is focusing on SDG 2; no hunger and no poverty.

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