The Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and OCP Africa have collaborated to launch the impulse accelerator programme for start-ups in the agritech space to provide solutions to problems limiting African smallholder farmers’ productivity.
The programme aims to help start-ups in the fields of agritech, agricultural biotech, mining tech, and materials science and nanotech build capacity and address issues facing the African smallholder farmers and reinforce the innovation system of OCP Group.
The programme is also designed to contribute to the development of innovation hubs in Morocco and the rest of the African continent.
Adnane Alaoui Soulimani, programe director, Impulse, explained that Impulse accelerator programme is the first step towards the creation of a much bigger sector-agnostic accelerator called – MassChallenge Africa, that will accelerate each year between 50 to 100 start-ups working on African farmers’ challenges.
“Start-ups that will be selected for our program will benefit from the mentorship of senior managers and business experts from OCP Group, one of the world’s leaders in the fields of phosphate and phosphate based fertilisers,” Soulimani said.
“Start-ups will also have access to potential business opportunities, training and prize money,” he addeHe noted that application is currently on-going for start-ups who can use technology and science proffer solutions to farmers’ challenges, noting that it would run through to 30th September, 2019.
Also speaking during the launch, Caleb Usoh, country manager, OCP Nigeria, said that OCP Africa was moving from mining fertiliser and producing to partnering with entrepreneurs that have innovative ways of addressing issues of smallholder farmers.
“OCP is concerned with the rapid population growth in Africa and the need to harness opportunities in the trillion-dollars agric economy by adding value through collaboration to expand the agricultural space,” Usoh said.
In his keynote address, Ayodele Balogun, business technical services, African Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership, noted that until recently, much attention was not paid to sustainable agriculture in Nigeria.
He urged the start-ups to provide solutions that improve productivity and bring in transparency into the sector.
“Start-ups need to come up with technology and new methods that will change the culture in the sector and create value,” Balogun said.
Dennis Goje in his keynote speech advised start-ups to familiarise themselves with government socio-economic policies in order to identify the opportunities therein.
“It is critical to understand government policies as they concerns agriculture in order to be successful and I encourage start-ups to pay careful attention to these policies,” Goje said.
Josephine Okojie
