That food is becoming an expensive commodity in Nigeria is no exaggeration. Despite the country’s status as a leader in various types of agricultural production, such as palm oil, cocoa beans, pineapple, and sorghum, current hikes in the price of food continues to add to the growing food insecurity the country is facing.
With agriculture accounting for over 20 percent of Nigeria’s GDP, the present food crisis bodes ill for the economy. One of the challenges bedeviling the agricultural sector is a lack of power supply. In response to this, renewable energy startups are coming to the fore with innovative clean energy solutions; one of such companies is ColdHubs.
Founded by Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, ColdHubs in 2015, a Nigerian business that provides solar-powered, walk-in coolers for smallholder vegetable farmers. Today, the startup alongside Hello Tractor was selected as one of the winners of the inaugural US$1.5 million Heifer International‘s AYuTe Africa Challenge.
ColdHubs owns and operates dozens of compact, walk-in, solar-powered coolers at rural produce markets in central Nigeria. The transportable, stand-alone units give local farmers a way of keeping their beans, peppers, tomatoes, and more fresh for days or weeks, reducing waste.
The winners, known as the 2021 AYuTe Africa Champions and chosen from an impressive field of young agritech innovators from across the continent, were announced today at the 2021 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Summit.
As winners of the AYuTe Africa Challenge, the companies will receive a sizeable monetary investment—a total of US$1.5 million in grants—along with ongoing support from a team of expert advisers—accomplished business veterans—to help them translate their funding into an aggressive expansion strategy.
This is part of Heifer International’s efforts to support young entrepreneurs developing affordable tech innovations to scale their businesses. Doing so ensures greater access to services that enable African farmers to overcome long-standing challenges while encouraging a new generation to pursue opportunities in agriculture.
Adesuwa Ifedi, senior vice president of Africa Programs at Heifer International, said, “Across Africa today, young, creative professionals are deploying tech innovations that are reimagining farming and food production,
“We want to do our part to help companies like Hello Tractor and ColdHubs as they provide Africa’s smallholder farmers with much-needed products and services to develop a sustainable, profitable business.”
Ifedi believes that young entrepreneurs across Africa understand the farming struggles of their parent’s generation and have seen how this has discouraged the people around them from pursuing careers in the agriculture sector. For their own part, African youths see a pathway and as such, create innovative products and services that can transform farming into a promising future for their generation.
Speaking on what this funding opportunity means for ColdHubs, Ikegwuonu said, “With support from Heifer and the AYuTe Africa Challenge, I think in five years we can grow from 50 to about 5,000 ColdHubs across West Africa and create new income opportunities for smallholder producers.
Too many African farmers do not get the income they deserve because they have no way of keeping their produce fresh, forcing them to sell it soon after harvest. ColdHubs offers an affordable, pay-as-you-go refrigeration option available right in the middle of local markets,” said the CEO.
