KTN Global Alliance Africa has extended the closing date for large Nigeria-based companies and global organisations with subsidiaries in Nigeria from the AgriFood sector wanting to find rapid innovative solutions to their industry challenges to apply for the innovative exchange programme.
The application will now close on March 31st0h 2022.
KTN Global Alliance Africa is a six-year project, funded by UKAid, that aims to promote job creation, inclusive growth and poverty reduction through knowledge transfer, skills building and opportunities to support businesses and innovations that can deliver scalable impact.
“Investing in AgriFood is critical for both the nation’s economy and society as a whole,” KTN said in a statement signed by the Africa’s Regional Lead, Sophie West
“It is an integral part of the solutions necessary to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets and Nigeria’s Vision 2030 ambition to make Nigeria the top three most food-secured country in Africa through the application of digital technologies and innovations.
“The iX Challenge Programme is a quick route to access solutions from other sectors to solve those challenges.”
Some of the identified challenges from the AgriFood sector include using technology to increase food productivity and production, identifying innovative approaches to deliver efficient vegetable production, reducing wastes and emissions in the environment.
Others are applying cost-effective solutions to identify or reduce counterfeit products and identifying supply chain solutions to reduce post-harvest waste of perishable goods.
“These topics are by no means exhaustive and we would welcome a discussion around issues your business might be facing that could potentially be solved by expertise from other sectors,” the statement continued.
“With nearly 100 challenges delivered globally to date and over 850 applications, our team of experts will work with you to understand the issues you face and to score the challenge to help sell the opportunity to a diverse range of sectors.”
KTN Global Alliance Africa will allocate seed funding to the selected solution providers of the iX Challenge to help provide startup and SME ecosystem financial support to develop the identified solutions in partnership with specific challenge owner, as well as additional mentoring for projects moving into commercialisation.
The Challenge is targeted at Nigeria-based, Nigeria-registered companies in the AgriFood sector with an annual turnover of over N100 million and/or a workforce of over 50 employees. It is also aimed at companies that have a concrete industry challenge that would benefit from cross-sector solutions.
