Lofte Kesho has emerged as the overall winners in the Glovo tech startup competition in Kenya. The competition was launched by the company in March this year.
Lofte Kesho was represented by Bernard Njathi, CEO and Patrick Ndeda, the co-founder. Lofte Kesho is an Agritech and fintech start up empowering smallholder livestock famers to unlock capital against their livestock.
They will receive the following:
- Mini Business Accelerator package through an all-expenses paid trip to visit Barcelona, Southern Europe’s leading tech hub.
- Meeting with top Glovo executives to receive feedback and tips on their business as well as discuss any business opportunities and challenges.
- Sessions at the Esade Business School Campus with experts from the ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute and the eWorks Accelerator program to have a review of the business plan and discuss with them the roadmap and go-to-market plan.
- Fast-Track Access to the Summer 2022 edition of the eWorks Accelerator program, which provides access to mentors, exclusive perks and tools and a final demo day with international investors (fully remote program).
- Pro bono consulting session with BCG Kenya to help develop their business idea.
The idea for the competition was initiated by both Esade and Glovo, and their vision was backed by Ashoka Africa and Boston Consulting Group that came together as collaborators.
The competition was made up of two stages. The first stage was through an online submission of written applications which closed on March 31st 2022. Numerous interesting applications across various sectors of the economy were received by Glovo and Esade out of which 8 finalists were shortlisted to move on to the next phase – the live pitch in front of a panel of judges.
The panel of judges were:
- Anthony Mburu, General Manager Strategy, Britam Plc
- Joseph Irungu, Assistant Director Ministry of ICT
- Ilya Yacevich, MA, LMFT, founding director of Global Trauma Project
- Takeshi Oikawa, Managing Director of BCG Kenya
- Priscilla Muhiu, General Manager, Glovo Kenya
The live pitch was held at the Capital Club Nairobi where the opening remarks were given by the Spanish Ambassador to Kenya, her excellency Dona Cristina Dias Fernandez-Gil. Ms. Agatha Juma who specializes in story coaching provided a complimentary masterclass to help the finalists prepare for their live pitch, drawing on her experience as a Certified Executive coach with experience with a continental accelerator and a global innovations bootcamp.
Speaking during the event, Priscilla Muhiu, General Manager at Glovo said: “We are excited to be part of helping accelerate SMEs in the country on their digitalization journey. We at Glovo recognise the needs of SMEs as a critical part of the community and are committed to helping build the Kenyan ecosystem for digital services.”
The competition was in line with Glovo’s values and its continued commitment to support SMEs as Glovo has assisted in the digitization of various verticals of commerce for SMEs. Glovo currently supports over 4000 SMEs in Kenya alone.