GSMA Innovation Fund is Offering £220,000 to Agritech Startups Improving Financial Inclusion for Small-scale Farmers

GSMA Innovation Fund for Digitisation of Agricultural Value Chains is offering up to £220,000 to agritech startups. The program is open to agritech startups with digital solutions that improves smallholding farmer’s financial inclusion, livelihood and the climate resilience.

Organized by the GSM Association (GSMA), a global trade body for mobile network operators worldwide, GSMA Innovation Fund for Digitisation of Agricultural Value Chains brings together agritech startups with solutions for the agricultural last mile to help them scale.

The GSMA Innovation Fund for Digitisation of Agricultural Value Chains is awarding up to eight grants of £220,000 each. Relevant are projects that improve smallholders’ financial inclusion, livelihood and climate resilience. Apply until July 31 https://t.co/SAnfEBsuM8

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How the Innovation Fund Works

The program is open to startups that target organisations like agribusiness and cooperatives, procuring from smallholders with the focus on the lower class mainly those living on less than $2 per day.

At the end of the program, eight solutions will be selected and provided with £220,000 grants to support their projects for a duration of 24 months (2 years).

Applications for this fund is assessed and reviewed through a 2-stage process. Applicants will first go through the concept note stage where the project objectives, proposed partners, and the strategies are clearly stated. After this, the applicants are shortlisted and invited for the business plan stage sometime in August.

Here they will further outline the strategy for implementing and scaling the service, a budget projection with an indication of how the grant is to be spent, and a workplan for the 24 month implementation period. 

GSMA Innovation Fund for Digitisation of Agricultural Value Chains 2019 (Grants up to £220,000) – https://t.co/PKvwaIDkW4 pic.twitter.com/MBy0EpmJKs

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In addition to the grants, the GSMA will provide these startups with support to develop their business plans and service implementation. This will be done through market research, user-centric design, business intelligence, user-testing with agribusiness staff and smallholders.

Startups that get to the concept note stage but not the business plan stage could also join the GSMA AgriTech Priority Learning Partners Initiative. Here they will gain access to events including webinars on the topic of enterprise solutions for the last mile.

Applications are currently open, until 31 July, 2019. Interested applicants can click here to apply.