Agribusiness Innovation Challenge 3.0 Host Demo Day

Fadekemi Ajakaiye 

The Global alliance for Improved Nutrition, (GAIN) hosted the demo for the 3rd series of its Agribusiness Innovation Challenge in Lagos recently.

The Agribusiness Innovation Challenge is a transformative initiative designed to identify and support innovative solutions addressing critical challenges in Nigeria’s agricultural value chain. The Demo Day is the grand finale where the top innovators will pitch their viable and replicable solutions to the panel of jurors.

The Deputy Country Director, GAIN Nigeria, Dr. Abass Yusuf, stated that the Agribusiness Innovation Challenge was geared towards strengthening Nigeria’s agricultural sector and fostering transformative innovations that ensure sustainability, inclusivity, and resilience in food systems.

“We firmly believe that the future of food security lies not only in the hands of policymakers and practitioners but also in the hands of the bold, creative, and resourceful minds represented by the remarkable entrepreneurs in this room. This is why the Agribusiness Innovation Challenge (AIC) was born: to provide a platform where visionary ideas meet practical solutions and where innovation drives change at every level of the agricultural value chain”, he said.

He stated that over the past few months, they have witnessed an inspiring journey of learning, collaboration, and growth. From the inception of the challenge to its Demo Day for the third edition of the Agribusiness Innovation Challenge. He mentioned that the process has been both rigorous and rewarding. 

“With the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center (NCIC) as our trusted partner, we embarked on a mission to nurture innovations in four critical areas: Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize, Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato, and Rice value chains. These crops are not just staples but vehicles for improving nutrition, livelihoods, and economic resilience across Nigeria and beyond”, he said.

He said that over 4,000 applications were received from across the nation, 10 outstanding startups were selected to participate in an intensive journey of capacity building, mentorship, and technical support. “Through workshops, pitch readiness bootcamps, and technical assistance sessions, these entrepreneurs refined their ideas and built the skills necessary to transform their concepts into viable, scalable, and impactful businesses”, he stated.

He mentioned that the initiative placed a strong emphasis on inclusion, as many of the entrepreneurs are women and youths, whose participation was vital for the sustainability and diversity of the agricultural landscape. “Empowering these groups ensures that the benefits of innovation ripple across communities, creating jobs, improving incomes, and strengthening the fabric of the society”, he said. 

The Project Coordinator, Business Support, GAIN Nigeria, Ayomide Ogundeji, stated that the challenge focused on improving innovations and ideas on supply change efficiency on production and consumption of bio fortified foods. 

He stated that these solutions are targeted towards addressing four thematic areas like supply chain traceability; agricultural productivity and efficiency; addressing climate smart financing and last line distribution network. These ideas are essential to address the issue of food security and malnutrition in the country, he said.

“We hope to be able to have ideas that are scalable, and which can be replicated by Agric entrepreneurs across and beyond the state of implementation of this initiative. We are going to be awarding the 4 finalists a sum of five million naira each to be able to support and scale their innovations and we hope to get the best from them by providing better nutrition for all”, he said.

The 4 finalists who benefited from the project are, Jetfarms; FavRobotics,; Let it cold; and Energy Assured.