The agricultural and food sector is vitally important in many African and Asian countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, it promotes economic development and generates income.
Innovative solutions can boost productivity, income and employment. With their innovations, young companies address familiar problems in the industry: they advise small farmers, facilitate market access, improve cultivation and harvesting methods, organise storage, logistics and processing, and make financial services accessible. They also improve the circular economy.
However, many start-ups and innovative businesses are still not harnessing their full potential.
Proven digital innovations for the agricultural, food and climate sectors and the circular economy are widely disseminated in selected markets and are generating income.
The project operates in three fields of activity:
• It identifies start-ups across Africa that provide digital innovations for the agricultural, food and climate sectors but have not yet achieved growth. In Sri Lanka, it identifies innovative businesses that contribute to the circular economy.
• It develops the management and technological capacities of start-ups and innovative businesses to make them more attractive to investors.
• It puts promising start-ups and innovative companies in contact with potential investors and supports them in accessing capital.
The Gates Foundation is involved in funding the project. Additional cooperation partners include Melanin Kapital, Flat6Labs, Garage48, 60 Decibels, the University of Wuppertal, ETH Zurich, MaibornWolff and Climate Asia.
The project contributes to achieving multiple SDGs from the UN’s 2030 Agenda, For example, it improves incomes and contributes to gender equality, economic growth and innovation promotion.
https://sais-accelerator.com/
https://vc4a.com/giz-sais/
As of April 2025