Ugandan e-commerce fresh produce entrepreneur wins sh37m

David Matsiko, chief executive officer and founder of Bringo Fresh has won $10,000 (sh37m) in a competition organised by the African Development Bank.

The African Development Bank's AgriPitch competition offers young entrepreneurs in Africa's agricultural sector the opportunity to pitch their agribusiness proposals to a panel of experts and investors who selected winners in "early start-up," "mature start-up" and "women-empowered businesses" categories.

AgriPitch competition awards $120,000 (sh444m) in prizes to African youth "agripreneurs".

Matsiko said the e-commerce platform is a social enterprise that sources fresh quality produce from farms at a fair price.

The AgriPitch competition was held virtually and saw more than 2,500 applications, 605 proposals from 30 countries.

They were shortlisted down to 25 finalists from 12 countries.

The finalists qualified for a two-week business development boot camp, and then a select top 9 AgriPitch competitors made their final pitches to an online panel of judges and investors.

The AgriPitch competition kicked off on November 3, with weekly webinars and ended with the AgriPitch winners' ceremony.

The bank expressed commitment in supporting youth who are ambitious, creative, technology-savvy, and who have an entrepreneurial spirit to establish profitable small and medium-sized enterprises for a prosperous and inclusive Africa.

Uganda loses 20 million tonnes of food per year. Farmers lose up to 60% of the fresh produce annually. All this food is never eaten but goes to waste.

Bringo seeks to end food waste with innovative solutions. 

Other winners in the competition were from Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya with many coming from Nigeria.