RecyclePoints makes top 10 @Zambezi Prize 2018 - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Nigerian startup, RecyclePoints, is in the top 10 finalist in the MIT Legatum Center and Mastercard Foundation finalists of the 2018 Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, have announced the finalists of the 2018 edition of the Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion, including RecyclePoints.

The Grand Prize Winner and  Runners-Up, NaijaAgroNet gathered, will be announced during the Open Mic Africa Summit in Nairobi on August 29th, 2018.

RecyclePoints  pride itself as a waste recycling and social benefit venture which commenced its beta edition in Lagos, operating an incentive-based scheme which collects recyclable materials from post consumers and in turn rewards them with “Points” which they could accumulate and use to redeem/shop for household items offered through our iRecycle store.

The prestigious competition, awarding a total of $200,000 in prizes, was established in 2015 to discover Africa’s most promising and innovative early-stage start-ups that promote and advance financial inclusion on the continent.

The selected companies are Apollo Agriculture (Kenya), Bidhaa Sasa (Kenya), FarmDrive (Kenya), Farmerline (Ghana), LanteOTC (South Africa)(https://LanteOTC.com/), MaTontine (Senegal) (ControlRisks.com), OZE (Ghana)(www.OZE.guru/), RecyclePoints (Nigeria), Tulaa (Kenya)( www.Tulaa.io), and Wala (South Africa) (https://getWala.com/).

“We are pleased to welcome the 2018 finalists into the MIT Zambezi family”, said Georgina Campbell Flatter, the Executive Director of the MIT Legatum Center. “They represent some of the world’s most innovative change agents.”

“The finalists demonstrated strong leadership and innovation in the way they are solving financial inclusion challenges”, said Ali Diallo, the Global Programs Manager of the MIT Legatum Center. “We also want to thank the hundreds of great startups that applied to this competition and shared with us their inspiring ventures, visions, and insights for advancing financial inclusion. We hope to keep them all engaged through our upcoming initiatives”.

The finalists will join leaders from the MIT and African tech ecosystems on August 28th and 29th at the 2018 MIT Open Mic Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. The two-day event will include a VIP reception followed by the award ceremony at Strathmore University where the Grand Prize Winner will be awarded $100,000. Two runners-up will each receive $30,000 while the seven remaining finalists will each receive $5,000 in cash prizes. Additionally, the Legatum Center will award $5,000 to an African entrepreneur who demonstrated great leadership qualities to unify Africa’s tech ecosystem. All finalists will participate in cohort-building and mentoring activities with MIT leaders and Zambezi alumni companies during the event.

The winners will be invited to attend the Zambezi boot camp during the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) (www.MITInclusiveInnovation.com) gala on the MIT campus in Boston on November 5th-9th, 2018. They also will be fast-tracked to the IIC global grand prize with up to $1 million available in funding for the winner. The IIC event is part of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy(http://ide.mit.edu/) and, along with the MIT Legatum Center’s initiatives, exemplifies MIT’s global commitment to the future of work(https://goo.gl/t6QRFb).

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Support to smallholder farmers, women, youth top agenda @Mauritania

NaijaAgroNet:

The imperative of supporting smallholder farmers, women and youth are top on the agenda for a forthcoming meeting between the President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The meeting, according to David Florentin Paqui of IFAD Communications Division in Nouakchott, affirmed to NaijaAgroNet, said would be witnessed by senior officials of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, to discuss how investment in agriculture could ensure food and nutrition security and create jobs for rural people, particularly women and youth.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that in Mauritania, 41 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, and half depend on agriculture for their income, whereas farming generates 25 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), hence, small farms are vital for the country’s food security as well as its economy.

During an official three-day visit to the country starting Monday, April 9, Houngbo hinted his meeting with the Mauritanian President and Prime Minister, Yahya Ould Hademine would have support for smallholders farmers, women and youth top on agenda.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered that a joint working meeting with the Minister of Economy and Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Livestock and the Minister of Environment will focus on the role of smallholder farmers in ensuring food security in Mauritania, the challenge of climate change, and the opportunities agriculture can offer to young people in rural areas.

Investing in a new generation of smallholder farmers is essential. Of Mauritania’s 4 million people, 40 per cent are under 15 years of age, 60 per cent are under 25 and only 5 per cent are over 60. Half of the population derives their livelihoods from raising crops and livestock and fishing. Although the country is self-sufficient in red meat and fish, it imports 60 per cent of other staple foodstuffs, particularly rice, vegetables, sugar and cooking oil.

IFAD and the government of Mauritania are working together to improve food security and nutrition, increase the incomes of poor rural households, create jobs and reduce the country's dependence on food imports. Since 1980, IFAD has financed 14 projects and programmes in Mauritania for a total of $342.3 million, including $136.2 million from IFAD’s own resources, directly benefitting nearly 190,470 Mauritanian rural households.

Houngbo will deliver a keynote address at the opening session of the Regional Implementation Forum organized in Nouakchott by the West and Central Africa Division of IFAD. Later, he will join Lemina Mint El Ghotob Ould Moma, Minister of Agriculture, in Kiffa to meet with rural people benefiting from an IFAD-supported Poverty Reduction Project in Aftout South and Karakoro – Phase II designed to help build, an economic and social fabric based on sustainable natural resource management that is inclusive of poor rural households, particularly women and young people. Because of its achievements in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, this project was a recipient of a 2017 IFAD Gender Award.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, Caribbean top continents trafficking children globally

NaijaAgroNet:

Countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and the Caribbean have the highest share of children among detected trafficking victims at 64 and 62 per cent respectively, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in its latest study tagged A Child is a Child, showed that 200,000 unaccompanied children applied for asylum across around 80 countries in 2015-2016.

Also, NaijaAgroNet reports that some 100,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the United States (US)-Mexico border between 2015 and 2016.

While some 170,000 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in Europe in 2015-2016, there were unaccompanied and separated children which accounted for 92 per cent of all children arriving Italy by sea in 2016 and the first months of 2017.

Children, UNICEF said, accounted for approximately 28 per cent of trafficking victims globally.

“As much as 20 per cent of smugglers have links to human trafficking networks,” the study stated.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE 

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