A Ghanaian agricultural technology company, SAYeTECH has been declared the winner of the MEST Africa Challenge 2024. This was disclosed by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in a statement seen by Technext.
Hosted in partnership with the Norwegian Embassy in Accra, this year’s edition attracted applicants from key markets in the West African Region including Benin, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Togo.
The theme of this year’s edition, ‘Find Your Soil,’ focused on agricultural technology innovations around the West African region. These innovations must also be aimed at enhancing productivity and sustainability in the region.
In the end, six standout finalists were selected to pitch their groundbreaking agricultural technology solutions at the grand finale. The grand finale marked the culmination of the competition, which celebrated innovative AgriTech solutions driving change in West Africa.
Speaking about the overall purpose of this year’s edition of the MEST Africa Challenge, Portfolio Advisor, MEST Africa, Ashwin Ravichandran, said it is all about finding the environment where innovative startups could grow.
“AgriTech innovation thrives when it’s rooted in the right environment. ‘Find Your Soil’ is about helping innovators find the ecosystem where they can grow. Through the MEST Africa Challenge, we provide the visibility, partnerships, and support to help them succeed,” Ashwin said.
Meet SAYeTECH, a hardware/IoT company
Founded in September 2018 by Jeffrey Boakye Appiagyei and Theodore Ohene-Botchway, SAYeTECH is an acronym for sustainable African Youth Enterprise Technology. The agritech startup combines the benefits of hardware and Internet of Things (IoT) embedded systems with the primary goal of increasing the productivity of smallholder farmers and providing jobs for young people by producing smart post-harvest agricultural machines.
By doing this, the startup provides smart agricultural solutions for smallholder farmers in Africa and creates sustainable technology enterprises for African youths.
The startup also designs and builds smart agricultural machinery which it says are suited for African conditions. These machineries, the startup says, are built with robust and durable materials. Some of them include; multi-crop threshers, cocoa pod breaking machines, grain and food processors, and animal processing machinery.
Having secured $50,000 in equity funding by winning the 2024 MEST Africa Challenge, the startup says it will deploy the funds into scaling its operations.
“The funding will enable us to scale production and reduce delivery lead times, providing smallholder farmers with the equipment they need to increase productivity,” Co-founder and Director, Ohene-Botchway said.
As for MEST Africa, the institution says it will continue to deepen its influence on Africa’s tech startup landscape. It lauded the MEST Africa Challenge as the continent’s premier pitch competition for emerging tech entrepreneurs, noting that the competition is designed to provide the ideal environment for tech innovators and startups to grow and succeed.
“MEST Africa is committed to creating wealth and jobs in Africa by fostering digital skills, supporting startups, and providing access to global networks,” the institution says.
See also: Will Nigeria’s ₦50 electronic money transfer levy disrupt its cashless revolution?
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