Seeding Growth in Mobile Agriculture

infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program is proud to announce the mAgri Challenge in partnership with Sweden. Building upon previous World Bank challenges, five teams will be invited to a Mobile StartupCamp in November 2013for a chance to refine their business plan and pitch before investors and phone manufacturers.

Why You Should Apply

In many developing countries, the agricultural sector plays a significant role in the national economy. According to World Bank statistics, the sector employs about 40 percent of the total labor force in countries with annual per capita incomes ranging from $400 to $1,800, with the share as high as 75% in many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Increasingly, specialized mobile services are providing localized information about prices, weather and climate, pest control, cultivation practices, and agricultural extension services (see ‘Maximizing Mobile’, a 2012 report published by the World Bank andinfoDev). Our goal is to scale up the most successful mobile agri initiatives, and this challenge is designed to identify those innovators and provide them with additional resources to further commercialize their products.

Who Should Apply
infoDev is looking for entrepreneurs:

  • With a mobile business based in Africa,
  • Who have a working prototype of a mobile agri appthat has growth potential,
  • Who are looking to grow their business both locally and abroad, and
  • Who are interested in innovative business approaches and coaching that could be applied to their business to drive its growth.

Women entrepreneurs are especially encouraged to apply.

How to Apply

To enter the mAgri Challenge for a chance to attend the Mobile StartupCamp, the following must be received by August 15th, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time to :

  • Completed Questionnaire- Questions are found on pages 2-4 of this document.
  • Pitch Deck:Your Pitch must be submitted in the PowerPoint template provided at infodev.org/magri. It should not exceed 11slides, excluding the title slide/cover page.
  • Prototype Demo:Please upload a 1 minute video to YouTube or Dropbox thatdemonstrates your product, and include the URL in your submission. In the event that a video cannot be created, screen shots and descriptions (not to exceed 750 words) are permissible.

Have questions about the competition or application process? Email them to

Our Partner: Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida)

Sida is a government agency working on behalf of the Swedish parliament and government, with the mission to reduce poverty in the world. Through their work and in cooperation with others, they contribute to implementing Sweden’s Policy for Global Development.For more information, visit

Questions in bold are mandatory

Question / Type/write answer in this column / Tick here
Name of product/service
URL of product/service
Name of organisation that runs or heads the product/service
Full name, job title and email address of contact person for the product/ service / Name:
Job title:
Email:
Is your product/ service global or tied to one country?
(please state which country)
What is the status of your product or service
(tick one) / Live (functional)
Planned (in planning stage)
Merged/Closed (not functional)
Short description of your product/service
(max. 100 characters incl. spaces)
Long description of your product/service (max. 500 characters incl. spaces)
Is your product or service led by a mobile network operator (MNO)? Yes/No
Product or Service offering
(tick all that apply) / Market intelligence/information
Trading facilities
Learning/ advisory/ extension services
Weather information
Peer to peer learning
Data collection
Financial services- mobile payments
Financial services- loans
Financial services- insurance
Geospatial applications[1]
Embedded ICT in farm equipment & processes[2]. May include:
1)Operations monitoring, quality control, and product tracking
2)Logistics and business processes
Agricultural news
Record keeping
Support for agent networks (eg. Training for extension workers)
Focus/topic area of product or service (tick all that apply) / Livestock
Crops
Fisheries/Aquaculture
Agroforestry
Finance
Climate and weather
Certification
Other
Primary customer/ user (tick one) / Smallholder farmers
Medium landholders
Input supplier
Extension workers
Broker/Trader/Processor
Retailers
Others
Delivery channel/ Technology
(list those that apply to your product/service): / Voice: Native
Voice: IVR
Voice: Text-to-Audio
Data: SMS
Data: USSD
Data: WAP
Data: Web
Data: Apps
Data: HTML
Network: 2G
Network: 3G
Network: 4G
Short Range Connectivity: Wi Fi
Short Range Connectivity: Bluetooth
Short Range Connectivity: NFC
What month and year did your product or service go live?
Number of current users
Year of data for current user number
Name of partner organisations / Content partner(s)
(Agricultural organisation/ Academia/ Research/Application developer etc) / Name:
Technology partner(s)
(MNO/VAS/Platform etc) / Name:
Sponsor partner(s)
(NGO/Development Agency/Donor/investor/financial institution etc) / Name:
Other partners
(Government / device manufacturer/ consultancy) / Name:
Number of languages service/product is available in (please list the languages)
Please tick the primary sector of focus for your service (tick one only) / Mobile Agriculture
Mobile Industry
Mobile Money
Mobile Health
Women and Mobile
Mobile Learning
Green Networks
Energy Access via Mobile
Entrepreneurship and Work
Governance and Transparency
Corporate & NGO Use
Cross Sector
Please tick the secondary sectors of focus for your service (more than one can be ticked) / Mobile Agriculture
Mobile Industry
Mobile Money
Mobile Health
Women and Mobile
Mobile Learning
Green Networks
Energy Access via Mobile
Entrepreneurship and Work
Governance and Transparency
Corporate & NGO Use
Cross Sector
Target population- gender (tick one) / Male
Female
Both
Target population- location (tick one) / Rural
Urban
Both
Average ARPU
(in USD & only if relevant) / Rural
Urban
Average VAS ARPU
(in USD & only if relevant) / Rural
Urban
Target age bracket
(tick one) / Youth
General (not targeting a specific age group)
Other
Secondary customers/ users
(tick all that apply) / Smallholder farmers
Medium landholders
Input supplier
Extension workers
Broker/Trader/Processor
Retailers
Others
Shortcode and/or access number
(only if relevant)
Other useful information
(links to reference materials)

1

[1]Applications enabling data and information related to geography and space to be managed, processed, and visualized. They contribute to land and water use planning, natural resources utilization, agricultural input supply and commodity marketing, poverty and hunger mapping, etc.

[2]Applications that enable greater efficiencies in farm equipment and agricultural processes, and traceability in agricultural products‘ transport and marketing through mobile technologies such as RFID, wireless Internet, and cellular telephony for labelling, traceability and identity preservation