Farmhut, a Zimbabwean agri-tech startup, has been awarded a grant of $100,000 after being named one of the winners of the annual Hult Prize competition.
“This isn’t just a Farmhut investment. It’s for all the farmers who toil away every day to provide a meal for their families. Farmhut’s CEO and co-founder Ryan Katayi said, “It sets the stage for us to take our innovative solution to the rest of the world.”
This year’s Hult Prize, an international, year-long competition that crowd-sources ideas from university level students after challenging them to solve a pressing social problem such as food security, water access, electricity, and education, has chosen the company as one of 11 winners.
Farmhut will earn US$100,000 in grant capital as one of the winners, which it will use to broaden its product range and user base.
Farmhut is an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered marketplace that connects farmers with markets that pay fair prices for their produce.
It enables farmers to expand their businesses quickly throughout the year, while ensuring that customers receive new, locally produced, and sustainably grown food from small producers in their neighborhood.
The agri-tech startup recently launched a WhatsApp-based chatbot to address the lack of connectivity that most Zimbabwean farmers face.
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