GSMA AgriTech Accelerator – 2023

The GSMA AgriTech Accelerator commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is part of the Fund for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag) and being carried out by the GSMA on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ). This initiative aims to support and fast-track the growth of innovative, revenue-generating digital agriculture solutions that support the shared vision of improving smallholder farmers’:

1. Livelihoods
2. Financial inclusion
3. Climate resilience

The GSMA will provide up to 10 selected applicants (cohort members) with technical assistance for a period of two years to support the scaling of digital agriculture solutions. Cohort members will benefit from a range of technical assistance tools, including targeted consulting from the GSMA team, user experience and product design/management support, farmer feedback surveys, access to GSMA events and insights and capacity building for investor readiness.

No direct grant funding will be provided to cohort members of the Accelerator.

Focus areas

Applicants to the Accelerator will be expected to clearly articulate how their digital agriculture solution, leveraging mobile technology, supports improved livelihoods, climate resilience and financial inclusion for smallholder farmers, and enables equitable access for female farmers, young farmers and/or farmers with disabilities.

Some examples of use cases that are relevant to the Accelerator’s objective and promote access to services, markets and assets for smallholder farmers are given below:

1. Digital Advisory
2. Agri Digital Financial Services
3. Digital procurement
4. Agri e-commerce
5. Smart Farming

This is not an exhaustive list and we will consider applications promoting other use cases that align with the objectives of the Accelerator.

Definitions of these use cases, as well as associated sub use cases, are provided in the applicant handbook.

Eligibility criteria

The Accelerator will select up to ten (10) digital agriculture solution providers who have deployed services aligned with the Accelerator’s objectives and meet the following eligibility requirements:

Demonstrate impact: Applicants must be able to clearly demonstrate how their service improves smallholder farmer livelihoods, climate resilience and/or financial inclusion through an innovative agritech solution while minimising any adverse and unintended social or ecological impacts

Revenue generating entity: Applicants must have an existing user base of farmers and paying customers (either farmers or other value chain actors like agribusinesses) and a minimum of two years of operations

For Profit organization: Applicants must have a well-defined business model and be able to evidence their ability to scale and reach commercial sustainability

Implementing country: the solution must be implemented in the approved country list (Targeted countries)

Intellectual property: Applicants must own the IP for their solution

Inclusivity: The solution should enable equitable access for women, youth and/or persons with disabilities. Applicants’ existing and proposed approaches to gender inclusivity (e.g. KPIs), including the gender mix of their project and leadership teams will be a key element of the application assessment.

Commitments: Applicants must sign off on commitments defined in Section 7

The following organisations will not be considered as primary applicants for technical assistance, although we strongly encourage partnerships with these entities, where relevant, as part of the application:

1. Mobile network operators
2. Universities or academic organisations
3. Start-up accelerators and incubators

In addition to the eligibility requirements above, applicants must demonstrate compliance on the following points:

• Be registered to do business in the country of project implementation (whether domestic or foreign-owned or a joint venture);
• Clear the GSMA background/sanctions checks, through which additional due diligence materials may be requested;
• Be in satisfactory financial health, have adequate financial systems and have human resource capacity to implement the Accelerator’s commitments; and
• Demonstrate how they are compliant with local and international data protection and privacy regulations and be prepared to respond to questions or provide evidence.

Resources

Please read all resources below before starting your application.

• Term Sheet
• Applicant Handbook
• Concept Note Application Questions
• FAQs
• Product Manager Guidelines