First City Monument Bank (FCMB) partners Passion Incubator to launch the FCMB Agritech EPIC Pitch 2020

In its “The rise and rise of African Agritech” report, Disrupt Africa highlighted the problems plaguing Africa’s agriculture sector and how entrepreneurs are building solutions to these problems.

While the number of these solutions have increased year on year and are having a huge impact across the continent, more still has to be done before Africa can fulfil its potential of being the “food basket for the world”.

Through its Agritech initiative, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) is playing its part in growing the sector. The bank is providing early to growth-stage entrepreneurs with prerequisite resources to grow and scale their Agritech businesses. The virtual program will support Agritech businesses in Africa with seed investment, access to workspace, market & network that stimulates innovation, collaboration and business growth. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s edition would be a virtual engagement.

“This initiative is geared towards building and accelerating the growth of the Agritech Startups in Africa and also helps young and self-driven Nigerian entrepreneurs grow their business. This mission would eventually build investible, sustainable and scalable businesses that can contribute to the nation’s employment rate as well as the growth of the nation’s GDP”.

The bank has partnered with Passion Incubator, a Lagos-based early-stage incubator and accelerator that has invested in some Agritech startups, to launch the virtual edition of the FCMB Agritech EPIC PITCH 2020 to continue its support of Agritech businesses in Africa.

The program is focused on the following Agriculture value chain solutions;

• Processing/Production/Storage
• Agricultural Finance
• Agricultural Marketing
• Supply chain

The bank has set aside N1.5 million to support the top 2 startups in the program. Other benefits include mentor support, access to workspace, market and networks that stimulate innovation, collaboration and business growth.

The entrepreneurs would also have access to the Passion Incubator’s resources, partner organization support and business development services.

Application for the program is currently open. Entrepreneurs in the Agritech space should apply by visiting bit.ly/fcmbaep. The deadline is July 24th.

The program will also feature a virtual conference. Themed “Redefining and Repositioning Agricultural value chains in this COVID-19 era”, it will bring together, virtually, some global experts to discuss and share some insights on the Agricultural value chains.