GAIN and the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre implemented a youth agri-business innovation challenge in Nigeria in 2023 to identify, develop and scale innovative solutions to support the sustainable food systems transformations in the wake of a changing climate. As part of GAIN's Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples (SNIPS) project, this innovation challenge focused on empowering women and young people in agribusiness to amplify tech-driven solutions for climate-smart agriculture and enhance supply chain efficiency for nutritious food.

The challenge was supported by funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Green Innovation Centre for the Agricultural and Food Sector in Nigeria (GIC). Applicants engaged in a Pitch Readiness Bootcamp program for technical assistance in developing their innovations further. A customer validation exercise was conducted in farming communities and processing facilities in Southwest and Northwest Nigeria to evaluate and validate the demand, impact and scalability of these innovations in supporting nutritious food value chains, including Vitamin A Maize, Vitamin A Cassava and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes. A closed Deal Day session allowed participants to pitch their ideas after working with IFSS portal collaborators at Glocolearning to develop detailed pathway-to-impact maps to support operational approaches to scaling their solution and help make tangible changes towards Nigeria's agricultural resilience and nutrition security.

The Agribusiness Innovation Challenge's Demo Day finale showcased pitches from nine innovative start-ups specializing in cold chain storage, traceability, and commodity marketplaces, with four start-ups winning the USD 16,000 prize.

EatSafe, in collaboration with the IFSS portal, is calling all innovators in Ethiopia and Nigeria, passionate about food safety, to share their ideas on how food safety innovations can be adapted in traditional markets and further up the food chain.

This program, funded by USAID, is launching a national Innovation Challenge in April 2022. EatSafe is calling all students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators, passionate about food safety and/or nutrition, to share their ideas on how existing food safety innovations can be adapted and applied in traditional markets and further up the food chain. Take part in the EatSafe Innovation Challenge and make a lasting difference to the health of your fellow citizens! You will stand a chance to participate in the global EatSafe Innovation Challenge grand final taking place in Denmark in October, and where USD 10,000 are up for grabs!

The AgriTech4Morocco Innovation Challenge, hosted by CGIAR’s Accelerate for Impact Platform and IMPACT Lab, is seeking motivated innovators driven by a passion for positively disrupting Morocco’s agriculture and food sectors through the next generation of agritech. It scouts, selects, and accelerates groundbreaking solutions that can help Morocco deliver on the efficiency, equity and environmental sustainability objectives of the Generation Green 2020-2030 Strategy.

The AgriTech4Morocco Innovation Challenge is an initiative organized by CGIAR’s Accelerate for Impact Platform and IMPACT Lab with the support of the World Bank and Trust Fund Digital Development Partnership, and in partnership with the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests (MAPMDREF), and le Pole d’Agriculture Digital (PAD).

The Accelerate for Impact Platform (A4IP) and the IFSS Portal teams collaborated to offer an orientation session and Backcasting process to all applicants of the Agrobiodiversity Innovation Challenge 2021.