AgriNation Startup Cup selects four finalist teams

The AgriNation Startup Cup final event took place on October 20th, as part of the 2022 World Food Forum hosted in hybrid format in FAO Headquarters in Rome. Ten startups from across the region, showcased their ideas and competed for a spot in the 2023 Global Agripreneurs Summit (GAS).

The ten startups had to pitch their idea in front of a panel of judges consisting of Ms. Carla Tanas, Co-Founder & CEO, Future Agro Challenge /IDGC, Mr. Ramy Boujawdeh, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Berytech, and Mr. Simon Gifford, Co-founder and CEO, Mashauri Limited. The innovative and locally cultivated solutions ranged from rural finance solutions, sustainable fertilizer, digital water management, waste valorization, vertical farming and nutritious and sustainably produced foods. The showcase exemplified how young men and women from across the region are truly capable of transforming agrifood systems to be more sustainable, equitable and productive.

The four winners are: RevoFeed, a company that will produce sustainable animal fodder from local waste, Jodoor, that brings controlled environment agriculture to small farmers, Blue Filter, an affordable and sustainable water filtration service and MicroFert a provider of high quality sustainably produced fertlizer. During GAS, the winning teams will have the opportunity to network with agrifood entrepreneurs, investors and experts from across the globe.

Moving forward, all 10 showcased startups will receive incubation support from FAO to help them achieve market penetration and maximize their positive social, economic and environmental impact.

The AgriNation Startup Cup is a business competition for youth led, early stage startups in the NENA region. Led by FAO in collaboration with Industry Disruptors Game Changers (IDGC) and Berytech, the competition aims to foster youth innovation and inclusion in agrifood systems by supporting solution-oriented agrifood enterprises to achieve market readiness and strengthening national agrifood innovation ecosystems. In 2022 the competition was held for the first time, attracting over 200 applications from 15 countries including 38 teams that were shortlisted and had the opportunity to take part in a digital skill-building bootcamp.