GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation: Meet the founders

The GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation was launched with the support of our donors, to help accelerate the testing, adoption and scalability of digital innovations that enable the world’s most vulnerable populations to adapt, anticipate and absorb the negative impacts of climate change, or strengthen biodiversity.

This initiative is currently funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and supported by the GSMA and its members.

Aquarech, Kenya

Aquarech is a grantee from the first cohort of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation that works towards improving fish farmers’ productivity, enabling market access and creating an inclusive aquaculture value chain in Kenya using the mobile technology and IoT sensors. In this video, the CEO of Aquarech, Dave Okech, highlights the benefits of being a part of the GSMA Innovation Fund by outlining the networking and partnership opportunities with the key ecosystem stakeholders that contributed to their business scalability.

BENAA Foundation, Egypt

BENAA Foundation is a grantee from the first cohort of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation. They specialise in water resource management using IoT to help convert waste water into irrigation water for small farms in rural Egypt. In this video, the CEO of BENAA Foundation, Aya Tarek, shares how they are continuing to drive impact and growth.

BaKhabar Kissan (BKK), Pakistan

BaKhabar Kissan (BKK) is a grantee from the first cohort of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation that gives the agriculture community access to a variety of services ranging from weather information, agriculture experts, the latest pesticides, and better methods of farming. In this video, Jaudat Shaikh, the CTO of BKK shares how the catalytic funding and support provided by the GSMA Innovation Fund has helped them de-risk their projects and enabled them to achieve their objective of transforming every farmers in Pakistan by promoting digital literacy and providing actionable advisory and fulfillment services.

Crop2Cash, Nigeria

Crop2Cash is a grantee from the first cohort of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation, serving as a digital marketplace for farmers facing drought conditions in Nigeria to help manage financial risks and adapt their farming practices through access to agri-insurance and climate smart farming content. Michael Ogundare, the Founder and CEO of Crop2Cash, shares how they are making Nigeria’s small holder farmers financially inclusive. He also highlights how their partnership with the GSMA has enabled them to scale their business models and unlock additional benefits through technical assistance and networking opportunities provided by the GSMA.

Lersha, Ethiopia

Lersha is a grantee from the first cohort of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation which is one-stop digital service for smallholder farmers that provides advisory content on climate smart agriculture solutions, weather information, and facilitates access to agri-credit and agri-insurance. In this video, Amanuel Zegeye, Data Scientist at Lersha, shares how the GSMA Innovation Fund plays a crucial role in building strategic partnerships with the ecosystem stakeholders and unlocking additional funding and opportunities to scale their business.

GeoKrishi, Nepal

GeoKrishi is a grantee from the first cohort of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation that is working towards filling the gap in technical know-how, access to advisory and availability of input supplies in the market. Rajan Bajracharya, the Founder of GeoKrishi, shares how they enable the smallholder farmers in Nepal to respond to immediate and ongoing risks of climate change.

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