The Nepal Innovation Challenge- AgriTECH was officially launched in Kathmandu on 29 April. This Challenge is part of the global Financial Innovation Lab Initiative run by the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The challenge is hosted in collaboration with NEXT Venture Corp. and Idea4Scale. The objective behind hosting this challenge is to support innovators and existing start-up companies ideate, innovate and implement technology driven solutions for smallholder farmers and the private sector companies serving them.

The challenge is designed around two problem statements that address persisting challenges in both the demand and the supply side of the agriculture sector. On demand side, is the agriculture sector in Nepal which is an important part of the economy and contributes 31% to the GDP and employs 68% of the population. However, smallholder farmers in Nepal face constraints such as access to finance, access to high-quality agriculture inputs and access to relevant agriculture as well as market information to sustain and scale-up their livelihoods.

On the supply side, many start-up companies and Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) are supporting the agriculture sector by offering pre-harvest management services such as contract farming, processing, trading, etc. However, start-ups and MSEs that are supporting the agriculture sector express recurring challenges such as lack of information dissemination channels, effective ways to ensure production standards, lack of data-driven demand and supply analysis and lack of digital systems that negatively impact their operational efficiency and value addition to the sector.

The AgriTECH Challenge is open for start-up companies as well as anyone who has an innovative idea that can solve demand and supply side challenges. The challenge will run for a period of 6 months where participants will be taken on a journey to turn their ideas into actions. The challenge will have a dedicated pool of national and international experts who will help the participants develop their products and services. The participants will also be given an opportunity to LIVE test their solutions in the market during product prototype phase of the challenge.

Speaking on the launch event, Ms. Valerie Julliand, UN Resident Coordinator said: ”1 out of 4 people in Nepal is directly or indirectly associated with the agriculture sector. But, rarely do we hear about technology driven solutions being implemented in the agriculture sector. Through Nepal Innovation Challenge, I am hopeful to see sustainable innovative solutions that benefits the smallholder farmers and their farmlands in Nepal.”

“FinTech can be helpful in improving the farming system at a time when the sector is suffering from climate change. And Nepal Innovation Challenge will provide the platform for innovative solutions to transform and inculcate the change in Nepal’s Agriculture sector.”- Dr. David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD.

Ms. Keyzom Ngodup Masally, Regional Technical Specialist, UNCDF said, “We will continue to play the role of an investment agency of the Least Developed Countries to catalyze solutions to leave no one behind. I am therefore even more encouraged that we stand here today with our partners Idea4Scale and Next Venture Corp. to accelerate innovations and help connect solutions to problems through a wide network of enablers and beyond the lifetime of this challenge.”

Mr. Kavi Raj Joshi, MD- NEXT Venture Corp stated, “NEXT Venture Corp is honored and excited to be a part of Nepal Innovation Challenge-AgriTECH. We are on a mission to make entrepreneurship accessible to more people and funding their innovations, we have hosted multiple business incubation and accelerator programmes focused on women, travel and tourism, agriculture, technology and more. Through this partnership with UNCDF we hope to continue supporting more entrepreneurs start and grow their ventures. "

The challenge will announce 2 winner who will be awarded grant up to USD30,000 and 1 year technical assistance from UNCDF to pilot the product/service and develop it’s scale-up plan.

For more information on the challenge, please visit: Nepal Innovation Challenge-AgriTECH