This archive report was first published on 13 September 2019.
Ghana's Sesi Technologies and Botswana's Maungo Craft Win $100,000 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize ¶
On September 13, 2019, Sesi Technologies and Maungo Craft were announced as the winners of the inaugural $100,000 Generation Africa GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize. The competition aimed to select two innovative ventures that showcased market potential, traction, and impact.
Isaac Sesi of Sesi Technologies from Ghana and Bonolo Monthe of Maungo Craft from Botswana emerged victorious from over 3,000 online applicants from 39 African countries.
Maungo Craft, founded in 2017, works with oil producers and communities to turn underused indigenous fruits of Botswana into gourmet low-to-no-sugar preserves. Monthe's co-founders are Olayemi Aganga and Taunyane Motseoeme.
Monthe was inspired to start her business after witnessing morula fruit rotting in her town. She believed the abundant indigenous fruit was valuable and could be used to create gourmet preserves. With the help of her co-founders, Monthe discovered that the inability to use the fruit hampers the growth of the gourmet preserves industry.
Maungo Craft has since won 10 awards and was the first food company from Botswana to display at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York. The company has several partnerships in progress for both local and export markets.
Sesi Technologies Limited is an agritech company that tackles poverty and hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa by empowering farmers and businesses along the agricultural value chain with affordable technologies. Isaac Sesi was recently named by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) 2019 Technology Review as one of the world's top innovators under 35.
Other young Generation Africa GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize finalists included Leah Bessa, Gourmet Grubb, South Africa; Steven Betcha, Ngomalands, DR Congo; Piwai Chikasha, Alley Capital Group, Zimbabwe; Starlin Farah, Ecodudu Limited, Kenya; Bertin Fokou, Distribution Express (DITEX), Cameroon; Lilian Nakigozi, Women Smiles, Uganda; Job Oyebisi, FarmCorps, Nigeria; Siny Samba, Le Lionceau, Senegal; and Affiong Williams, Reelfruit, Nigeria.
