Agriculture and technology are synonymous in Israel. The Israeli Pears Challenge wants Kenya to join Israel as a leader in agri-tech and strengthen Kenyan food security.
Israel has been trailblazing high-tech agronomic development for many years – wrestling with unforgiving deserts, constantly working to ensure agricultural stability.
By contrast, while Kenya is recognized for its up-and-coming high-tech industry, its agricultural sector is extremely underdeveloped -- smallholder farming is the primary method of cultivation. Kenyan farmers face constant setbacks, such as climate change, pests and diseases, and outdated technology. These hurdles inspired the Pears Challenge -- a competition for tech entrepreneurs -- to devote its 2015 cycle towards fostering technological breakthroughs in Kenyan agriculture.
The 2015 Pears Challenge
Israeli agri-tech research programs led by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Organization and schools such as Tel Aviv University are prolific innovators in the world of farming, but increasingly many strong inventors are startups. Young Israeli entrepreneurs are eager to pick up field experience, and aim to use their savvy to develop new farming technologies for the Kenyan agricultural sector.
Aliza Inbal, director of the Pears Program for Global Innovation, emphasizes the power of Israeli invention. “Israel has an extremely developed [technological] ecosystem,” she said. “It’s one of the most innovative countries in the world – at this moment in time, [the world] is using many Israeli technologies.”
The Pears Challenge is a fellowship for entrepreneurs interested in developing businesses that help improve social welfare and development. This year the challenge is focusing on food security -- famine is one of the most deadly issues plauging the developing world. Beyond its status as a leading cause of death, famine spawns long-lasting nutritional deficits, perpetuates illness, devastates economies, exacerbates violence and power struggles, and leads to poverty and forced migration.
The entrepreneurs are currently studying market opportunities and business models during an "ideation lab," where they will also collaborate and brainstorm with their fellow fellowship recipients. The Pears Challenge will select the most promising proposals in September and pair them with smallholder farmers during a trip to Kenya. Once the projects are up and running in October, the challenge will take on a supporting role, providing funding and networking opportunities to the entrepreneurs for as long as necessary.
Growing the Pears Challenge
Our world is shrinking each day thanks to rapid technological innovations. Our digital culture facilitates diverse ethnic encounters and exchanges. The Pears Challenge was conceived as an arm of the Pears Foundation, a British institution based on jewish values, to speed these interactions by funding rising social enterprises targeted towards international development.
“The purpose of the challenge is to take Israeli innovators and entrepreneurs who are experienced and have proven themselves, and to apply them to the business models of [Kenya] to boost [the economy],” Inbal said.
The challenge is taking place at an opportune moment. All 10 of the quickest expanding economies are in the developing world. Seven of them are in Africa. The foundation webpage notes that 3.7 billion people living on under $3 per day is an opportunity for social enterprise entrepreneurs to enter the development sector -- these economies represent a potential $5 trillion dollar market.
The Pears Challenge aims to capitalize on this opportunity and facilitate lasting economic growth in the developing world.
The potential outcomes of the competition
Last year, the competition produced a variety of promising inventions, such as LivingBox, a container that grows vegetables using hydroponics -- plants are submerged in water and fertilized with household waste, such as fish heads, leftover food, and manure.
Another project, Keheala, is a software system that connects communities with a healthcare network to reduce tuberculosis cases. Its goal is to get people to see disease as a community health problem, instead of an individual one.
This year the challenge will likely produce creative new agri-tech techniques -- and, perhaps, help popularize high-tech aid programs.
“Such a unique concept raises hopes for not only solutions to the current Kenyan farming crisis, but for the future of aid programs themselves,” Inbal said. “Technology has the opportunity to be a game changer in people’s lives if utilized properly.”
