Founders building climate adaptation or resilience solutions for vulnerable communities, who have built something concrete (an app, device, data model, service protocol) but haven’t yet tested it with real intended users, are encouraged to apply.
The programme aims for cohorts with at least 40% women in leadership positions (ideally women-led or women co-led), and seeks a balanced mix between AI-first companies (where the model is the product) and AI-embedded companies (where AI strengthens an otherwise traditional solution). Applicants do not need deep AI experience to apply, but should demonstrate curiosity and willingness to learn and use AI tools during the cohort.
What ASIF Ignite Africa Cohort 1 is Looking For
Climate change is placing increasing pressure on food and agriculture at every stage of the value chain.
Smallholder farmers are often affected first and most severely by drought, unpredictable rainfall, and flooding, with limited ability to recover from failed seasons. Further along the value chain, rising temperatures contribute to food spoilage, while floods disrupt roads and infrastructure needed to transport products to markets. Significant amounts of food produced in sub-Saharan Africa are lost before reaching consumers, often due to heat, inadequate storage, and climate-related challenges.
ASIF Ignite Africa Cohort 1 focuses on food and agriculture value chains — including everything involved in growing, moving, storing, processing, and selling food — and the climate pressures affecting each stage.
The programme is looking for founders developing tools and solutions that help farmers and agribusinesses prepare for, withstand, and recover from climate-related shocks.
Solutions Supported
The programme supports climate adaptation solutions addressing challenges across food and agriculture value chains, including:
- Climate-smart agriculture solutions that help farmers adapt to changing weather conditions and climate risks.
- Climate information services providing farmers with weather data, forecasts, early warnings, and decision-support tools.
- Digital agriculture solutions such as farm management platforms, mobile advisory tools, and data-driven farming technologies.
- AI and data-driven solutions using artificial intelligence, satellite data, predictive analytics, or remote sensing to strengthen agricultural resilience.
- Water and irrigation solutions improving water efficiency and access for climate-resilient farming.
- Farmer finance and market access solutions including climate insurance, financial tools, and platforms connecting farmers to markets.
- Clean energy solutions for agriculture supporting sustainable energy access for farming, storage, and processing.
- Post-harvest solutions addressing food loss through improved storage, cooling, preservation, and processing technologies.
- Regenerative agriculture and sustainable food system solutions that strengthen long-term environmental and agricultural resilience.
Who Can Apply?
Ignite Africa is open to early-stage micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), startups, social enterprises, or other founder-led ventures developing solutions that strengthen climate adaptation and resilience in food and agriculture value chains.
Regardless of legal structure, applicants must have a business model that generates, or credibly moves toward, earned revenue from customers. Enterprises whose primary funding source is donor grants or donations are not eligible.
Company registration is not required to apply for Ignite, although applicants are strongly encouraged to be registered or have concrete plans to register before the programme ends.
Large corporations and mature organizations with commercially established products operating at scale are not the primary target of this cohort.
What an Ignite Africa Cohort 1 Venture Looks Like
The programme is looking for ventures at the prototype and pre-validation stage. Applicants should have a functional prototype of a product, service, or technology that has moved beyond the idea stage and is ready to be tested with real users in real-world conditions.
Solutions may have been demonstrated in controlled or laboratory settings, but real-world field testing with target users should not have taken place yet.
Examples of suitable ventures include:
- A team that has developed a solar-powered cold room and installed one at a local market, but wants to test whether traders will pay to store produce in it and measure how much spoilage it prevents.
- A team that has developed an application that converts local weather and soil data into planting advice in a farmer’s own language. The solution works in demonstrations but has not yet been tested with farmers throughout a full season.
- A team that has developed a system to assess smallholder farmers’ creditworthiness using satellite and mobile-money data to improve access to agricultural finance. The model works but has not yet been tested with real lenders and farmers.
What Will Not Fit Ignite Africa Cohort 1
The programme will not support:
- Solutions with no clear link to climate adaptation, including ideas that only reduce emissions but do not help communities cope with climate impacts.
- Pure yield or profit improvement solutions without resilience benefits for climate-vulnerable farmers or communities.
- Processing or trading businesses with no clear benefit reaching smallholder farmers.
- Solutions outside food and agriculture. Other focus areas may open in later cohorts.
- Processing and sales solutions that only improve efficiency without reducing climate-related losses or increasing value captured by farmers.
What Selected Ventures Will Receive
Selected participants will receive:
- Weekly group workshops on AI methods and application, customer discovery, lean experimentation, and impact measurement.
- One-on-one office hours with specialists in AI, product development, and relevant sectors.
- Subscriptions to selected tools during the programme.
- Playbooks for testing solutions in low-income and climate-vulnerable markets.
- Detailed feedback on their future growth journey from industry experts and investors.
