December 17, 2024: Agriculture and Tech Opportunities for LMIC Businesses

NextBillion’s BizDev page publishes business development opportunities available to enterprises working in low- and middle-income countries. These may include accelerators, competitions, funding opportunities, incubators, requests for proposals and training courses. Our editors source most of these items, but readers are also welcome to submit items for consideration on the page.

We’ve highlighted the most recent BizDev opportunities below. Visit our BizDev page to see all the opportunities.

Agriculture

2025 Growth and Investment Program for Agri-SMEs

• Organizations: Aceli Africa, TechnoServe

• Location: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania

• Apply By: 01/10/2025

This six-month intensive program is designed to support a select number of businesses in becoming investment-ready and accessing debt financing. Learn more and apply.

Livestock-Tech Startups Incubator Program

• Organizations: Fast Forward Venture Studios, GIZ

• Location: Africa

• Apply By: 12/31/2024

This incubator intends to validate commercial sustainable livestock tech ventures in the earliest days and invest $100k cash in at least three companies. Learn more and apply.

RAIN Phase III

• Organizations: Global Resilience Partnership, Shockwave Foundation, Munich Re Foundation

• Location: East Africa

• Apply By: 01/31/2025

RAIN aims to convert seed-level innovative agricultural ideas that are meeting resilience needs in East Africa and scale them to sustainable business ideas of interest to private investors and funders.

Winners will be connected with potential funders, receive a tailored mentoring program, and communications support to refine their messaging. In addition, they will be invited to an investor forum and pitching session in-person or virtually. Experts will facilitate a leadership academy for the shortlisted candidates. Lastly, winners will receive a cash prize of up to 50,000 USD after the initial mentoring period and after the leadership academy. Learn more and apply.

Technology

AI and Blockchain for Data and Trust

• Organization: UNICEF Venture Fund

• Location: Global

• Apply By: 01/07/2025

The UNICEF Venture Fund is looking to invest in Open Source frontier technology solutions that have the potential to create radical change for children. They are offering up to US$100K in equity-free funding for early-stage, for-profit technology start-ups that can improve the lives of children. Learn more and apply.

NextBillion's most recent article:

Making Mini-Grids Work for Everyone: A Tariff Harmonization Pilot in Sierra Leone Reveals the Benefits and Challenges of Lowering Prices

Solar mini-grids offer a promising solution to energy poverty in Africa. But according to Tombo Banda and Lisa Kahuthu at CrossBoundary Group and Miriam A. , this approach has yet to gain sufficient traction, due in part to the challenge of balancing operational sustainability with affordability. If customer tariffs are set too low, operators lack revenue — but if prices are set too high, mini-grid electricity isn’t accessible enough to drive widespread adoption. They share the results of a pilot program in Sierra Leone that tested the impact of lower prices on mini-grid operators and their customers, highlighting the implications for future efforts to implement tariff reduction at scale. Read the article here.

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