Nigerian agri-tech startup Zowasel has received US$100,000 financing from Guinness Nigeria and Promasidor Nigeria, a leading pan-African consumer packaged food manufacturer, at the UN World Food Programme Zero Hunger Sprint.
Zowasel is an agricultural technology startup developing a sustainable and nature-positive value chain across communities, people, and the planet.
It works with over 1.5 million smallholder farmers aggregated across its network in Northern Nigeria, and recently launched operations across Nigeria’s Niger-Delta region to support smallholder farmers across the oil palm and cocoa value chains. It works with national and multinational crop processors to provide a platform for both local crop sourcing and global export of commodities.
The United Nations World Food Programme has developed the “Zero Hunger Sprint” as a platform to enable innovators to put their ideas into action to end hunger by 2030. The goal is to empower agricultural startups’ innovations with additional resources to accelerate their ideas.
At the 2021 Zero Hunger Sprint inaugural event, held in Lagos on July 30, Zowasel received two investments worth US$100,000 from available $250,000 investment commitment from five corporate organisations. The funding from Guinness and Promasidor will see Zowasel take part in a six-month support programme. It also provides customer acquisition opportunities, and partnerships with Guinness and Promasidor to join its list of marketplace off-takers and users of its traceability and sustainability software across the supply chain.
“We are glad two giants in Guinness Nigeria and Promasidor find us worthy of investment, we are even more excited about the opportunity, trust, and confidence bestowed upon our company. We look forward to working and collaborating with these amazing companies to understand their sustainability goals, supply chain, and traceability needs,” said Zowasel co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Jerry Oche.
