• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

CRENOV8, 2019-expanding the frontiers of agri-tech business

agri-tech

If there is one food industry-related company that is providing African farmers the veritable platform to showcase their products and services to the outside world, beginning with the United Arab Emirate (UAE), it has to be Crenov8 Consulting. As a leading Management Consulting and Digital Firm in Dubai it hosts the annual agribusiness gathering – Meet the Farmers’ Conference (MTFC).

The conference, which is a first of its kind Agro-trade and networking platform connecting Africa and the Middle East now in its third edition. MTFC began in 2017 as a veritable platform for productive interaction between African farmers as well as agro-preneurs and the off takers in the Middle East and beyond to engender lucrative deals, networking opportunities, and sustainable collaborations.

The fascinating factors that stand it head and shoulders above its peers include its focus on innovations, increasing appeal to creatively-minded African youth and of course, its spin-off effects on job and wealth creation. That the continent’s vast agricultural potential provides a lucrative sector, waiting to be tapped is stating it as it is.  The truth however, for those involved, is to be equipped with the requisite knowledge, positioning and a vibrant network to maximise the opportunities available to the farmers. That exactly is whatMeet the Farmers Conference (MTFC) 2019 brings to the table.

For this year’s edition, stakeholders from Africa and the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) will come together on the 27th and 28th of November, 2019 at the Dubai Marina, Dubai to network, collaborate and form sustainable business partnerships across borders. And to kick-start it there are alreadymedia events planned across 12 African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, and Congo DRC. There are also similar ones for 10 other countries from the Middle East and North Africa. These includeEgypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, India and the UAE.

The conference is the place to learn, network, discuss, exhibit and push the farmers and innovators’ brands to the world. For instance, the Innov8Agric Challenge, which is the hallmark of the conference purely, involves creativity and technology. Already, some young African farmers, agro-preneurs, innovators and enthusiasts have taken up the challenge to come with products aimed at promoting early-stage Agric technology. Theirs is to employ modern technology to create exciting and creative solutions to improve and evolve the way we practice agriculture today.

Specifically, the 2019 version of Innov8Agric Challenge holds across Africa with four winners emerging from each region. These winners will then go on an all-expense paid trip to Dubai to Meet the Farmers Conference 2019. There they will pitch for $5,000 in funding as well as the opportunity to exhibit, network and access a pool of investors and potential customers.

The challenge is open to solutions in every stage of the agriculture value chain—from the farm to harvesting, production, processing, logistics and even bookkeeping.  To drive the process to greater heights, Crenov8 has partnered with Avagro to hold the first 2019 Meet the Farmers Conference in Namibia. Holding on the 27th of April, 2019 at Farm Shalom, Swakopmund– early registration went for $150 and it closed on April 12. The interesting aspect of this is that Namibia, the land with abundant fisheries and livestock, is ranked the 5th best tourist destination in the world.  This would no doubt provide the opportunity to discuss a sustainable future involving trade, technology and agriculture.

Announcing the theme for this year’s conference, Ms. Bola Oyedele, Managing Director Crenov8 Consulting – organisers of the conference, expressed the impact of food security on the growing world population and the need for increased trade activities and technology innovation across the agribusiness landscape.

In her words: “Our theme this year – ”Creating a Sustainable Future” and it is anchored on our big vision to sustain Agriculture and food production by facilitating trade and promoting technology use in Agriculture. With the MTFC platform, large and small-scale farmers to tap into the $100billion market in Dubai- that’s why we are partnering with relevant stakeholders across both government and private sector to help us aggregate farmers to export Agric produce to the UAE and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council”.

According to Mark Olorundare, General Manager; Crenov8 DMCC, ‘’This year, the conference places particular focus on actual trade and look to promote export of Agricultural produce from different African countries to UAE and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Countries, promote the industrialisation of Agribusinesses in Africa and to drive direct strategic foreign direct investment (FDI) from the GCC states to Africa. We were able to broker a number of export deals from last year but we intend to do much more this year and leverage on technology as well’’.

As an incentive, winners from each region will battle for the USD 5,000 grand prize and will be given the opportunity to exhibit at the MTFC Finale, as well as follow-on funding and investment opportunities. They will also have access to a high worth pool of investors and potential customers at the conference.

It would be recalled that during the 2018 edition, Miss Modupe Oyetoso claimed the all–expenses–paid trip to Dubai by winning the Nigerian edition of Innov8Agric Challenge. Of significance is that she squared up against young farmers, agripreneurs and innovators from Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda in the Value Chain and clinched the prestigious grand prize of $5,000.

Expectations are therefore, high that this year’s challenge will even be more challenging and bring out the best in the participants. Can Nigeria win it again? Only time will tell.

Most importantly, African farmers, participants, exhibitors, and delegates at this event will be able to leverage the business opportunities available to them in Dubai and other GCC countries. Also, participants will be able to gain insights into a wide range of topics such as agro commodity trading in Dubai and GCC, import and exports requirements, laws and policies, financing, shipping, insurance etc.

Using Dubai as a hub, the GCC will now be able to enjoy the rich crops from the tropics of Africa, while the African countries will also experience a major boost in agro-trade. We are glad to be part of the African economic revolution; pushing the frontiers of food production and cross-border trade of Agriculture between Africa and the UAE through Meet the Farmers Conference.

Meet the Farmers’ Conference remains the perfect opportunity to network, liaise and build long lasting trade partnerships within Africa and the GCC. We look forward to having you join us at our other events in 2019. We believe Africa can feed the world! Partner with us to make it a reality.

Ayo Oyoze Baje