Fresh Direct Produce and Agro-Allied Services has emerged winner of the 2016 She Leads Africa (SLA) accelerator programme.
Fresh Direct was founded by Angel Adelaja (I’ve met her, she’s major hair goals, but I digress) in 2014 and it is an agricultural production and processing company. It produces premium organic fruits and vegetables through hydroponic technology. Fresh Direct also engages in community outreaches to share advanced technology that farmers can use to improve their yields for sustainable and profitable agricultural enterprise.
The SLA accelerator is a 6-month program designed to identify, support and fund the next generation of Nigeria’s brightest female entrepreneurs. The 2016 edition had 10 startups vying for the N2 million investment from the SLA team.
The SLA Accelerator features a 1-week residency and 3-week implementation cycle where the 10 selected startups spend 1 week in the SLA HQ in Lagos being trained by the team and then follow up with a three-week implementation period where they apply the lessons learnt to their businesses.
The cycle is usually done three times during the course of the programme. The programme wrapped up with a Demo Day on November 20 where the startups pitched to local and international investors. Hyperlocal delivery startup, DeliveryBros, was the second runner-up at the event.
