Agritech TroTro Tractor and Ghalani have received a total of $100,000 from Kosmos Energy, a leading oil and gas exploration and production firm in Ghana.
The startups are the beneficiaries of a corporate sponsorship programme called the Kosmos Innovation Centre launched earlier this year by Kosmos Energy in partnership with Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) to assist entrepreneurs with funding, technical assistance, and mentorship.
Both startups are doing exciting things in agricultural technology, and it is no surprise that they won the inaugural edition of the Kosmos Innovation Centre Agritech Challenge out of the over 100 entrepreneurs who participated in the programme.
The Vice President and Country Manager of Kosmos Energy, Joe Mensah said: “We are on to something big. This program encourages smart young entrepreneurs to look at agriculture differently. With the type of innovation fostered by the KIC, our young people can make it a more dynamic sector and attractive career path with plenty of opportunity.”
TroTro Tractor is a platform that farm owners can use to connect with farming machinery owners. Farmers can order and pre-pay for machinery and the machinery owners(operators) via sms, and operators can monitor their machine use and get connected to customers. Basically “Uber” for tractors and farmers.
Ghalani is building a software that will aid large-scale farmers and farming aggregators in efficient management and monitoring of crops, farming inventory to improve farming methods and increase yield. The company was founded by Amanze Ogbonna, a Nigerian and Tabby Nanzala Mayabi, a Kenyan who met at MEST.
In addition to the funding, TroTro Tractor and Ghalani will work out of the MEST incubator facility with full access to the MEST community and resources, as well as access to hands-on expert and technical support from the MEST team.
Katie Sarro, the Managing Director of Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) said, ”We’re proud at what we’ve accomplished thus far and we look forward to continuing to mentor and nurture these promising AgriTech startups through funding, incubation and technical support.”
