Microsoft, Sterling Bank, others set for Nigeria’s Agro Digital platforms
Microsoft, Sterling Bank, others set for Nigeria’s Agro Digital
platforms Lagos state Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, and
President of Microsoft International, Jean–Philippe Courtois, sign the
agreement at Microsoft Corporation headquarters in the United States
of America
In what appears to be yet another milestone in the agricultural
sector, the tech giant, Microsoft, in collaboration with Sterling
Bank, NITDA and TedPrime Hub has announced three agro-digital
solutions as winners at the just concluded Microsoft Agro-Tech
Hackathon.
The grand finale, which was held at Microsoft Africa Transformation
Office, Lagos Nigeria featured 10 solutions by the Nigerian youths
from Abuja FCT, Benue, Enugu, Jos, Kaduna, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and
Sokoto.
The winning digital solutions: Sell Harvest, Farmsquare and Farmers’
Market were announced as first (with N2.5M), second with (N1.5M) and
third position with (1 Million Naira) respectively by Sterling Bank
after rigorous pitch rounds and product testing reviews by season
experts and independent jury drawn from Agriculture, Technology,
Entrepreneurship, Research and Development sectors.
The National Hackathon which commenced on March 2022 with the ultimate
goal of designing digital solutions that bolster value chain in
agriculture and connect thousands of farmers to end-product users
together for the next decade was designed by Microsoft in partnership
with Sterling Bank and NITDA.
Speaking at the opening session, the Microsoft Country Manager Nigeria
and Ghana; Olatomiwa Williams in her Keynote reiterated the position
of Microsoft in harnessing the potentials of African youths to support
the continent by raising over 40,000 home grown Start-ups in critical
sectors as envisioned by Microsoft Africa Transformation Office. “It
is Microsoft’s pleasure to onboard these creative youths as finalists
at this occasion into the exclusive Microsoft Global Entrepreneurship
Program.
The Group Head, Agric & Solid Minerals Finance of Sterling Bank PLC,
Dr. Olushola Obikanye in his presentation expressed his delight on the
new milestone in the Nigeria’s agricultural sector through a robust
digital transformation framework as one of the five pillars of
Sterling Bank’s approach to National Development outside its core
banking services.
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