Young African Entrepreneurs Claim Top Honors in Dakar at GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition
Africa’s brightest young agricultural innovators took center stage in Dakar, Senegal today, as the prestigious GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition announced its winners at the 20th Annual Africa Food Systems Forum (AFS Forum).
Hosted under the leadership of H.E. Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar FAYE, President of the Republic of Senegal, this year’s forum focused on the theme: “Africa’s Youth Leading Collaboration, Innovation, and Implementation of Agri-Food Systems Transformation”.
The AFS Forum is a premier annual gathering of public and private sector leaders, policymakers, researchers, development partners, and youth-led enterprises dedicated to transforming food systems across the continent. This year’s 20th annual summit was held in Dakar, Senegal 31 August – 4 September 2025.
After rising to the top of a five-month competition and selection process, Naglaa Mohammad, co-founder of P-Vita, Egypt and Samuel Muyita, co-founder of Karpolax, Uganda were announced today as the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize grand prize winners for 2025. Each receive a US$50,000 grant award to grow and scale their businesses.
P-Vita developed a patented system with components like algae and recycled palm agri-waste to tackle the problem of expensive imported fertilizer and inputs which often use harsh chemicals and are unaffordable for rural and low-income communities.
Karpolax designed patented green nanotechnology to make innovative, non-toxic, and affordable VOC-based sachets that extend the shelf-life of many fruits and vegetables, helping farmers and distributors reduce post-harvest losses and preserve produce quality.
Judging criteria throughout the competition included: 1) innovation; 2) social and environmental impact; 3) market traction and potential; 4) management and leadership; and 5) business model.
Four US$15,000 Impact Awards were also announced, recognizing impactful products and services in critical areas including rural livelihoods, technology, job creation, natural resource use, climate resilience, nutrition, youth, and women’s empowerment. The 2025 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition Impact Award winners are:
Fareeda Mustapha, co-founder, PureLube, Ghana – Seeing the problem of costly imported lubricants, PureLube was launched to transform “waste into opportunity” by producing eco-friendly lubricants (grease) manufactured from cashew nut shells. In the process, PureLube drives local cashew value addition, creates jobs, and helps to ensure smooth-running agricultural machinery.
Editha Mshiu, co-founder, Freshpack Technologies, Tanzania – Freshpack Technologies developed and provides an innovative, affordable, and portable AI-enabled cool-box solution to enable smallholder farmers and vendors to extend the shelf-life of their vegetable crops by 3-5 days. Designed for communities without electricity, the award-winning innovation helps reduce spoilage and post-harvest loss affecting 40% of crops in Africa.
Daniel Wa Mukina, co-founder, DASEC SARL, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Tackling the problem of the high cost of imported agrifood machinery, DASEC SARL embarked on locally customized manufacture of agricultural machinery, primarily using recycled metallic waste. They also provide other agricultural mechanization and processing to support farmers including development of proprietary feed for livestock.
Faïçal Abdoul Wakil Palenfo, co-founder, Faso Elevage, Burkina Faso – Faso Elevage is an agro-livestock company that has developed innovative solar incubators and brooders, adapted to rural challenges, like lack of electricity. He also produces local livestock feed using local crops and trains breeders to improve their autonomy and productivity in Africa.
The seven remaining finalists each received a GoGettaz Young Catalyst Award of US$1 000, recognizing their excellence and catalytic contributions to grow, transform, and positively impact Africa’s agrifood systems:
Hazem ElTawab, co-founder, ReNile, Egypt – ReNile is a climate-smart IoT company that provides locally manufactured environmental sensors and a farm management platform to help farmers and factories monitor soil, water, and air in real-time, enabling data-driven decisions.
Niza Aritha Zulu, co-founder, Bio Green Technology, Zambia – Bio Green Technology provides smart water monitoring devices and a digital support platform that helps small- and medium-scale fish farmers improve productivity, reduce fish mortality, and adopt sustainable aquaculture practices.
Amira Affaf Bellil, co-founder, Propolina, Algeria – Propolina is an Algerian company which develops and markets innovative natural products based on honey, propolis, pollen, royal jelly and local plants, offering health, well-being and nutrition solutions.
Ajibike Olawale, co-founder, JR Farms Group, Nigeria – JR Farms is a tech-driven agribusiness empowering rural youth and women to grow, process, and supply traceable coffee, delivering fresh seed-to-spoon coffee and baked goods daily through its expanding urban outlets and a digital app.
Musa Mishamo, founder, Rada 360 Limited, Tanzania – Rada 360 is a precision agriculture company providing satellite-based crop and forest monitoring, yield prediction, localized weather data and soil testing to help farmers reduce input costs, increase productivity, and adapt to climate change.
Amine Derj, co-founder, Jodoor, Morocco – Jodoor is an agritech company that designs and manufactures sustainable hydroponic systems integrated with IoT solutions to optimize crop production, resource efficiency and environmental impact.
Kidist Amedie, Guaro Farms, Ethiopia – Guaro Farms is a young company bringing “last mile” processing hubs to smallholder growers of herbs and spices in selected spice growing regions of Ethiopia. On site, in converted 20-foot shipping containers, Guaro is helping to fight post-harvest loss by immediately converting raw crops via a process called “steam distillation” into higher value essential oils.
This year’s GoGettaz competition marked a milestone in geographic diversity, featuring first-time finalists from Algeria and Burkina Faso. All GoGettaz competitors were exemplars of a new generation of African entrepreneurs, not just talking about ideas but developing tech- and innovation-driven businesses with visions to tackle long standing challenges, and reshape the continent’s entire agrifood system.
The finalist businesses this year featured innovations that leveraged the power of emerging tools like artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, digital apps, satellite-based analytics, climate-friendly hydroponics, smart-AI aquaculture, solar-powered incubators, and affordable agricultural machinery, manufactured locally from recycled metals.
