Khartoum: afroshongir
Speakers unanimously agreed, during the activity held recently in Friendship Hall in Khartoum under the patronage of the Technology Incubation Program, that the “ startups249” incubator program, should support young inventors and innovators to find innovative solutions for a number of development sectors in Sudan and create a nucleus for the knowledge economy.
Moataz Mohammad Nour, CEO of “startups249” incubator, revealed that the program is implemented in Sudan, by the Frankfurt School of Financial Management and 249 Starts, focusing on “agricultural technology” through 5 main tracks;agricultural data, smart agriculture, market access, climate and agriculture, and financial inclusion for farmers، funded by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Fund (KOAFEC).
Nour pointed out that the applicants to benefit from the program so far are about 1,000 people. Nour , also. stressed on the importance of the program in providing guidance and linking the participating projects to the promising entrepreneurial movement, noting that the incubator focuses mainly through this program on fostering unique and innovative ideas to motivate entrepreneurs to launch new Technology-based projects in the agricultural sector, to place this sector on a sustainable development path.
On his part, Maurice Barca, Director of Projects at the African Bank – Sudan Office – announced ,in his address to the program attendees , the possibility of providing financing opportunities amounting to 90 thousand dollars for the projects included in the program. Morris expressed his happiness for supporting the program, assuring the bank’s interest in developing the agricultural sector in Sudan.
In the context , Dr. Hossam Al-Nasry, the strategic expert, reviewed statistics on the current situation of the agricultural sector in Sudan. Al-Nasry, in a special regard during his address, explained the challenges facing the agricultural sector, amid great interest and presence of technical entrepreneurs of both genders in addition of those interested in the pioneering part in business and projects with social, socio-developmental effectiveness and the funding and supportive bodies of the program. He pointed out that the “5” tracks of the program will be a real lever for the development of agriculture in Sudan.
Al-Nasri stressed the need to take care of smallholders’ farmers, revealing that they exceed (2) million farmers, working in an area estimated at 80% of the used agricultural area, urging the participants to work to find innovative solutions suitable for farmers. On his part, Khalid Al-Amin, General Manager of CTC Group, confirmed the support of the group for all stages of the program, and the support of participants in the testing phase of their projects.
