Agdrive is an acceleration and investment platform focused on unlocking innovation and investment in Africa’s agro-processing, agritech, and digital agriculture sector. AgDrive is a 12 month innovation and investing ecosystem focused on innovative early stage and growth oriented early stage and growth oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agro processing, agritech, and digital sectors. The platform is an immersive and high touch project consisting of initiatives and programs designed to provide a foundation upon which a pipeline of high potential startups and SMEs in the agro processing, agritech, and digital agriculture sector become investment ready and positioned to scale into regional and Pan African companies. To achieve this, the platform connects companies to investors and advisors, facilitates follow on financing, creating opportunities to access deals, markets, and critical technical assistance resources through innovative, local, regional, and global partnership.

Mission

Build 1000 innovative agro processing, agritech, and digital agriculture companies across African with revenues of $3million and above over the next 20 years

AgDrive will achieve this by creating enduring connections between Africa’s most promising agro processing, agritech, and digital agriculture starts and SMEs, and corporates, thought leaders, and investors.

Vision

Africa’s leading innovation and investment platform for innovative agriculture focused companies

AgDrive seeks to become the foremost platform which will build the next generation of regional, and pan African agro processing, agritech, and digital agricultural companies.

AgDrive will be held across African cities with the initial edition will focus on Southern Africa and will be held in Lusaka Zambia in 2022. The initial cohort of innovative agrifood companies will be drawn primarily from Angola, Tanzanian, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Malawi. The platform will focus on growth oriented potentially disruptive business models or products. The program will also be rolled out in East and West Africa following the Southern African Edition.

How the Program Works

Companies enter the program through the 2 week Growth Lab which culminates in the Demo Studio sessions where companies pitch to investors. The immersive 2 week program is complete with programming which includes master classes, clinics, project labs, corporate boot camps and the investor day Demo Studio pitch.

Following the close of the Growth Lab, participants and program partners sign up for membership in the Agdrive Plus program. At the same time they enroll for the Field Immersion Lab which seeks to immerse the participants and partners in a field experience where they visit research centers, companies in the agriculture sectors, and demonstration projects to benchmark their companies with global best practices. After the Field Immersion Lab companies and partners commence activities in the Agdrive Plus which is made up of initiatives and projects to be implemented over a 6 month period. The Agdrive Plus program is made up of the following initiatives and programs: Agdrive Advisory, Investment Facilitation, Corporate Innovation Program, the Mobile for Ag Lab, and the Value Chain Finance Program. The program will provide opportunities for SMEs coming out the accelerator to:

Why Agdrive

Africa’s agricultural sector, which employs about 70% of the population, has vast potential with many its countries having comparative advantages in agriculture. However although they are growing and represent vast opportunities, the agro-processing, agritech, and digital agriculture sectors, continue to be underdeveloped and under perform. Many countries remain food insecure, while local agriculture based manufacturing is uncompetitive. Meanwhile, African agriculture has the world’s lowest productivity and its small scale farmers, who contribute about 80% to food production are not fully integrated into efficient value chains and are often excluded in formal financial services systems. The fragmented food systems and value chains lead to 50% of post-harvest losses of food products. At the same time, domestic demand for ready-to consume food products is on the rise in many countries as urbanization take hold. Rapid technological change, the rise of supermarkets, rapid population growth and changing consumer wants are all working to transform the future of Africa’s food production systems.

SMEs have a huge potential role to play in unleashing the potential of African agriculture. They play critical roles in the sector as input suppliers, off-takers, processors, distributors, service provider, technology providers and even finance. Nevertheless startups and SMEs in the agriculture sector struggle to access critical risk and growth capital, advisory services and market access more so than startups and SMEs in non-agricultural sectors agriculture. AgDrive is response to help build thriving market driven, innovation based Agriculture sector in Africa which will feed the continent growing populations. The program is an innovation and investment ecosystem designed to help to address the market constraints hampering the innovation and scale up potential of African agrifood companies and innovators by crowding in capital and advisory resources to build innovative and pioneering startup and SMEs in the Agriculture across the continent.

The conclusion of the AgDrive Plus program is followed by a one week investment expo-Agdrive X which is focused on projects around investors and project promoter’s dialogue and transact to make investments.