Seedstars Banjul Winner Wants to Improve Agriculture By Tech Innovation

Nadji.Bi Gambia Ltd, specialized in research, development and in industrial manufacturing of impacts solar solutions for households or agricultural uses, was declared the winner of the Seedstars Banjul startup pitching competition held last Friday. The winner told The Chronicle that the company will use this opportunity to boost agricultural gains through technological innovation.

The winner will represent The Gambia at the Seedstars Africa Summit in South Africa where the regional competition will be held.  

“Besides representing The Gambia at the Seedstars Africa Summit, the winner will win an all-inclusive trip to the Seedstars Africa Summit and the chance to win a spot at the Seedstars Global Summit in Switzerland where the winner will take home a 500K USD investment prize. In addition, the winner will receive three months access to the investments readiness program,” Seedstars media relations officer Laura Eboa Songue said.  

Nadji.Bi’s C.E.O, Gabriel Latjor Ndow says he’s being prepared to compete in the regional pitching award in South Africa. According to him, winning the Banjul Seedstars competition will help them to grow faster as a company. 

“The greater benefit also is that it attracts potential investors for the company which is what we are looking for…It also gives us a platform for media attention for the global reach so that people can know about our company and the innovative solutions. It’s a platform to help startups. It will help us to be able to scale up our solutions because we want to make significant impact in the agricultural sector in The Gambia and our solutions are technological solutions,” Ndow told The Chronicle. 

According to Seedstars, Nadji.Bi Gambia, Ltd. was named “Best Startup in The Gambia” for its innovative sustainable solution which is a solar solution for a 1.3 million potential customer base.

ANG CAPITAL which provides instant loans and easy payments for transactions online with or without the use of the internet came in second place while, ‘Yobuma’ Transportation, which is Gambia’s first city bus service with cashless travel, rounded out the top 3 by placing third place. The other startups invited to pitch were AFRI BLACK COMMUNITY, eDeals, Jollof-Trade Online B2B/B2C Marketplace, Madani Studios, Nesthet Clinical Services, and Tesitoo Entrepreneurship.

The Ambassador of Seedstars World for Gambia, David Jeng says he decided to bring Seedstars to The Gambia in order to help local startups businesses grow and connect to the world. He indicated that small enterprises can contribute significantly in reducing unemployment rate in the country. 

A key partner of Seedstars is the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), which is being implemented by the International Trade Center (ITC) with funding from the European Union (EU).

Seedstars is a Swiss-based private group of companies with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. After the Banjul competition, their next stop is Congo where they will select the best startup in the DRC.