ENTERPRISE54 – GrowthAfrica, a Kenyan based company looking to setup, support and grow businesses in East Africa, has released a list of 13 agribusinesses that have made the cut for the sixth batch of its accelerator class.

The accelerator programme which involves 16 in house workshops, will see experienced, trusted and key players in the industry work with and mentor the shortlisted start-ups who will also have access to investors.

According to the Mananging Director of GrowthAfrica, Patricia Jumi, the accelerator program has a particular focus on growing operations and scaling the impact of social enterprises.

“This is really an impressive crew of ambitious entrepreneurs and capable teams building high impact for profit enterprises solving challenges in different agriculture value chains across the country and East Africa,” Mrs Patricia said.

Below, are the 13 finalists of 165 applications received, from which 45 were selected but only 24 of them were allowed to pitch before the panelists.

Animal Minerals & Allied Limited: Animal Minerals & Allied develops and sells hydroponic systems.

Aquaponics East Africa Limited: Aquaponics East Africa develops, supplies and installs aquaponic systems for horticultural and fish farmers in East Africa.

Essentia Kanan Limited: Essentia Kanan formulates, produces and sells bio fertilizers and soil amendments.

Green Savannah Limited: Green Savannah produces and markets pre-cooked enhanced, traditional porridge products for children of all ages.

Kenya Biologics Limited: Kenya Biologics manufactures and distributes natural organic pesticides for crop protection to small holder farmers in East Africa.

HomeRange Poultry: Homerange Poultry Kenya is primarily a hatchery specializing in breeding a local chicken; kienyeji chicken (IKC).

FarmbizAfrica.com: An online media company that specialises in disseminating relevant information to small scale farmers in Africa.

MolaPlus Limited: MolaPlus manufactures microbial food supplements for the enhanced nutritional uptake and improved productivity in livestock and chicken.

Premier Seeds: Produce, package, market and distribute their own developed brand of hybrid vegetable seeds at affordable prices.

Sare Millers Limited: Sare Millers produces enhanced and fortified protein rich animal feeds that are sold to small holder farmers dealing with livestock and poultry through their one stop shop concept.

Saumu Centre Limited: Saumu Centre produces garlic bulbs, sells and processes garlic both for industrial and home consumption.

Soko Text Limited: Soko Text improves the access of perishable agricultural products to kiosks in many urban slum areas.

Over 75 percent of the Kenyan population make a living from agriculture. With the agricultural sector contributing 26 percent of the GDP and another 25 percent through manufacturing and distribution, it happens to be a major part of the Kenyan economy. This sector has been tipped to yield a total of 10 percent annually to the economic growth vision targeted by Kenya in 2030.

 

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