KDSN RADIO News
Start-ups to compete at World Food Prize ‘pitch’ event in Iowa
A pitch competition — like what you see on the “Shark Tank” TV show — is scheduled in Des Moines next Wednesday, and it will feature start-up companies from Argentina, India, and Nigeria.
The World Food Prize Foundation is putting up $65,000 in prize money. “We’re really excited about the inaugural Innovate for Impact challenge,” WFP Foundation president Tom Vilsack said. “We were sort of taken aback by the response. We had 387 applications from 62 countries.”
Executives from each of the three companies will make their pitches to a panel of judges, who will award $50,000 for first prize, $10,000 for second, and $5000 for third prize. The event will be held in downtown Des Moines as part of the annual World Food Prize Dialogue that starts Monday. “There’s an opportunity, I think, for us to learn a little bit more about innovation that’s taking place and the entrepreneurship that is alive and well in this field of agriculture,” Vilsack said.
The three companies have the potential for “worldwide impact,” according to Vilsack. APOLO Biotech in Argentina uses R-N-A technology to produce an alternative to traditional pesticides. Capsber Agriscience in India is already working with over 150-thousand small-scale farming operations to use microbes that are native to the soil rather than fertilizers to boost crop yields. The third business — Vet Konect in Nigeria — has created a digital platform that has connected tens of thousands of farmers in eight countries to information about raising livestock. Tickets are required to attend the pitch competition.
