Kuzana – an accelerator program for early stage startups – will select seven agri-based companies in January 2025, which will participate in a three -month program tailored to empower them.
- The startups will receive US$20,000 in equity investments, mentorships, sales advice, accounting tips, and operational guidance.
- The participants of the accelerator program will also receive US$100,000 as additional funding if they need to upscale their startups and drive further innovation.
- Kuzana has raised over US$13 million for African companies, as well as overseeing the financial growth of businesses generating US$100 million in revenue.
Agriculture, as a sector, remains underfunded and small-scale across the continent. Agri-processing companies are severely incapable of handling massive produce, prompting cheaper exports to processors in other regions of the world. Processed foods and products are then re-imported expensively into Africa.
Kuzana noted that the accelerator program was conceived to adequately support innovators in the sector to scale up their technologies. This will eventually enable them to match up to their global peers.
The accelerator program also anticipates that entrepreneurs in the honey export business, avocado oil production, and value-addition processing need capital to generate profits. The goal of agro-processors will not be limited to food crops.
Kuzana’s funding emanates from proven entrepreneurs who have pooled resources and understand the unique challenges facing agri-techs in Kenya. They do not rely on donor or government funding, which has been a subject for skepticism by agriculture’s stakeholders in Africa.
Kenya is one of the countries where climate change is due to cause dramatic shifts in weather patterns and rainfall predictability. Seasons of long drought and unusually heavy rainfall have caused destruction of farms and about 4.4 million people are the risk of facing food shortages.
Entrepreneurs are regarded as the saviours of the agricultural sector and if enough food ought to be produced, innovation in processing and farming processes need to be embraced. Accelerator programs are the knob to this opportunities.
