DEVELOPING RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SYSTEMS IN GHANA

Ready to create a disruptive Impact tech venture?

Use your expertise to unlock some of the world’s greatest challenges and innovate to sustainably feed the world’s rapidly growing population in emerging markets.

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The 2022 Pears Challenge is a prestigious early-stage venture builder that will give you the insight, market knowledge, and connections to create a successful AgriTech start-up targeting emerging markets from ideation to launch.

Your Next Great Start-Up Awaits...

Join a select cohort of 25 serial entrepreneurs and innovators motivated to help the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers increase the quality, quantity, and safety of food production while preserving natural resources and local biodiversity.

The Pears Challenge will introduce you to the Ghanaian market and expedite the process of exploration and field validation. As you develop your venture, you’ll gain access to industry experts, early-stage funding, and publicity to get it off the ground.

This is your chance to:

Disrupt the $17B AgriTech industry

Develop cutting edge technology that will benefit millions of people

Join an exclusive cohort

Innovate among passionate impact-oriented entrepreneurs eager to explore new markets and business models

Gain invaluable market insights

Get a head start navigating the unique cultural and business landscape of Ghana

Collaborate with local partners

Gain a serious advantage with the opportunity to validate your assumptions and test product-market fit

THE 2022 PEARS CHALLENGE

THE 2022 PEARS CHALLENGE

Creating Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in Ghana

By 2050 the global population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion, creating unprecedented pressure on food systems worldwide.

According to the World Economic Forum, global food systems today are economically, socially, and environmentally unsustainable.

The future of global food security depends on Africa, which has 60% of the world's uncultivated arable land and whose farming practices are less productive than in many other parts of the world. To meet this challenge head-on, governments, NGOs, and corporations are investing in appropriate , sustainable, and efficient AgriTech solutions to transform Africa’s agriculture industry.

ISRAELI INNOVATION FOR SOCIAL IMPACT

About the Pears Challenge

The Pears Challenge, now in its fifth edition, enables experienced Israeli entrepreneurs to create successful impact ventures that meet critical needs in developing countries. Graduating ventures have developed technologies that are impacting thousands of people worldwide and have raised over 16 million dollars in seed financing and contracts since the program launched in 2014.

The Pears Challenge is generously supported by the Pears Foundation

Ghana - A Launchpad to the West African Market

According to KPMG, Ghana is one of Africa’s leading markets for foreign investment. The country has established itself as a stable and prosperous business environment with vast opportunities for innovation and technological advancement.

Here are a few reasons Ghana is a great location for your next start-up:

Ghana has experienced rapid developments in rural digitalization and technology.

In fact, the government has an ambitious project of connecting 95% of the population to the internet and has launched 5 submarine fiber optic cables to meet this goal. They also launched a universal QR Code in 2019 in an effort to make Ghana a cashless society.

Ghana has close to 15m internet users and has the highest mobile penetration rate in Sub-Saharan Africa at 130% which is perhaps why Twitter recently chose the Ghanaian capital, Accra, as the location of its African office!

Pears Challenge Global Partners

The Pears Challenge offers fellows access to a rich network of partners from Israel and Ghana as well as a number of regional and global players, including:

Develop solutions that will increase productivity and reduce waste to feed millions of people.

Your Role in Transforming Global Food Systems

Ghana is an exciting landscape for the 2022 Pears Challenge because it presents experienced Israeli entrepreneurs with opportunities to find scalable solutions to global problems and offers a gateway to markets of West Africa and beyond.

Market gaps and innovation opportunities can be found in almost every value chain in the Ghanaian food sector. In fact, climate-smart agriculture and ecologically sound technologies are already increasing the resilience of Ghanaian farmers in the face of climate change.

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THE PROGRAM

You have experience building tech ventures...

Now, it’s time to put your head and heart into a start-up that will not only transform agriculture in West Africa but will improve global food supply.

FALL 2021

1. Selection

During the selection process, we identify 25 exceptional entrepreneurs who have what it takes to conceptualize and launch successful impact tech ventures.

We look for open-minded, impact-oriented and experienced individuals who are at a stage in life where they want to tackle a new challenge and launch a new start-up.

Ideal candidates have experience designing innovative tech solutions in hardware, software, or biotech and/or come with a specific technical background as scientists, engineers, agronomists, developers, product designers, etc.

We seek equal gender representation and diversity in our cohorts and encourage applications from people of different ages, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Ready to create your next impact tech venture?

The Pears Challenge is your opportunity to break into the West African market with the connections, insight, and resources you need to go from ideation to launch.