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Calling all AgTech Startups in the fields of urban agriculture, beekeeping, and climate smart agriculture: There are 6 days left to apply to 2022 Innovation Journey to South Africa! Apply here before July 19, 2022. Calling AgTech Startups - Apply now for Innovation Journey 2022 in South Africa (SA)! Applications are now open for Innovation Journey 2022, and this year, the matchmaking program will target South Africa. This is YOUR OPPORTUNITY to understand their market fit, and be matched with South African companies that are engaged with smallholder farmers. The program will consist of online and in-person lectures, workshops and interactive sessions, all conducted as part of a boot camp that is aimed to help the participants build viable partnerships in the SA market, taking place across 25 hours in September, 2022. At the end of the program, two successful projects will receive grants to further support and boost their activity. In this Innovation Journey, we are looking for companies and technologies falling into one or more of the following categories: 1. Urban Agriculture, focusing on: Soilless/ vertical agriculture Food gardens Smart gardening Circular economy/ reuse/ recycling Energy in agriculture 2. Beekeeping, focusing on: Honey production Smart Hive Management Bee Health Urban Bee Keeping Varroa Treatment 3. Climate Smart Agriculture, focusing on: Irrigation Precision agriculture Water for agriculture Weather forecast Who should apply? AgTech startups and companies that offer solutions in the three above mentioned focus topics Startups and companies that are interested in the South Africa smallholder farmer market Startups and companies that are open to attending sessions and learning about the unique qualities of theSouth African smallholder farmer market Startups and companies that have a developed proof of concept Startups and companies that have the capacity to build a sustainable partnership with a South African partner We believe this is an opportunity to tap into the potential the South African smallholder farmer market has to offer, while bringing on board innovative technologies with the potential to create impactful changes in the lives of smallholder farmers. The Innovation Journey is led and implemented by JDC (The Joint) in partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry , in addition to Pears Program for Global Innovation as content and professional partners.

This month, we're switching things up and spotlighting an incredible Israeli researcher and inventor who has created several tech innovations to address post-harvest needs of developing countries. Introducing to you all - the one and only Shlomo Navarro! How did your journey with post-harvest innovation begin? My journey started many years ago in the early 1960s when we were researching post-harvest storage solutions to solve challenges instigated by Israel’s arid climate. The issue of periodic surpluses of wheat harvest in abundance, thanks to favorable weather conditions in Israel, was presented to me, and we started from there. The first solution we provided was a bubble house with a liner and a fan, but we understood quickly that this was not the answer. In 1964 we created a closed hermetic system – a bio generated atmosphere consisting of oxygen depletion and carbon dioxide enrichment, leading to extinction of insects and preservation of grain. While we found this method successful in preserving the grain, we needed a less costly solution. Through laboratory and field trials over the following 15 years, we searched for different application methods for our hermetic storage – we examined different commodities, capacities, materials, and methods, including underground storage, silos, and bunkers. We were approached in 1990 by Prof. Larry Simon, the General Manager of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), who felt strongly that Jewish people should show how they can contribute to the relief of developing countries. AJWS helped found GrainPro, an American company, with whom I partnered with to manufacture and sell my inventions. GrainPro is now active in over 80 countries. Tell us about your invention! Cocoon storage bags are simple yet effective solutions, made to protect small to large stores of grains and cereals without the addition of chemicals. These bags, which are now called GrainPro Cocoons, have several functions. First, and most importantly is the material. GrainPro Cocoons are made of tough, gas-proof, UV-proof PVC sheeting, made perfect for arid conditions. Once filled with grain and properly sealed, they are now hermetic. Any presence of aerobic (oxygen-dependent ) organisms will naturally generate a modified atmosphere (oxygen depleted and carbon dioxide rich) and soon extinguish any living organisms. We also found a way to speed up this process via our vacuum hermetic fumigation system. Instead of waiting for insects to consume oxygen, this system immediately removes all air from the cocoon’s atmosphere. We found this successful in preserving dried fruits and nuts. How has your invention evolved? Our inventions evolved as the challenges evolved. We learned more and more about the capabilities of hermetic storage based on different contexts and needs, specifically of developing countries. For smallholder farmers, we developed smaller 50 ton cocoons. This was tested and found successful in Sri Lanka, and eventually adapted to a one ton capacity in order to meet even smaller holder farmers’ needs in Africa. On the other hand, we created a mega cocoon for the Philippine government’s emergency rice storage, with the capacity to hold 300 tons and keep rice waterproof and insect free for years. As more countries approached us with challenges, we continued to work with their farmers and communities in order to contextualize our technology to their needs. We created a solution for red chili pepper in Turkey, for coffee bean preservation in South America, for cocoa beans in Indonesia, and a general solution to prevent condensation of products during transport. While working with Mashav in Rwanda, the ministry of agriculture invited me to establish a demonstration site. 12 years later, the Cocoon was opened, and the bags of corn were in perfect condition. Today, hermetic storage method is in worldwide application for preventing condensation in containers, particularly for transport of cocoa beans, seed storage, dried fruit storage, cereal grain storage, pulses storage, large scale storage of cereals like wheat, corn, soybeans and pady rice are among the commodities. Options for applying hermetic storage include bunker storage of 15,000 tonnes capacity in bulk, cocoons from 5 to 1000 tonnes capacity for bags, SuperGrainBags from 60 kg to 1000 kg capacity, Grain Silos of 500 tonnes or 1000 tonnes capacity in bulk, GrainSafe small sillo for 500 to 1000 kg capacity, TranSafeLiners from 20 ft to 40 ft containers capacity. As you can see, our work has greatly evolved in the past decades, offering different solutions for different needs. What are you working on today? After my retirement from the Israel Agricultural Research Organization in 2005, I continued to develop the thermal disinfestation technology for the Madjool date variety grown in Israel. This technology has fully replaced the need to fumigate the dates using methyl bromide - a chemical that is banned worldwide. I'm proud to say that Israel is globally the only country that has this technology. The other technology I've developed in recent years is the “cold fumigation” technology, including gas-tight fumigation chambers and gas generators that are currently in use for the disinfestation of cut flowers, fresh spices and seedlings to be exported from Israel. Currently I am engaged together with my team in developing a novel technology of fumigation that fully will replace chemical use and will be suitable for the Israeli cut flowers, edible flowers and fresh spices for export. This technology is also important in light of the recent Israeli Government decision to import fresh agricultural products. Israel has no alternative but to use the novel technology I am developing together with the Green Storage team.

In April 2022, the Pears Program team had the opportunity to visit the HomeBiogas headquarters in Beit Yanai. Afterwards, we had the chance to sit down with Guy Dotan, Head of Business Africa & Pacific to spotlight HomeBiogas and their inspiring global impact. What is HomeBiogas's story? HomeBiogas started with three good friends with a shared goal of making free, renewable energy available to everyone in the world. After thoroughly analyzing and testing existing biodigester designs, it became clear that traditional systems had significant limitations, leading them to their goal of modernizing the technology and creating an efficient and durable biogas generator that was easy to install and accessible to all. In 2012, they formed HomeBiogas. The initial HomeBiogas prototype was piloted in 2014 and 2015 in underserved Bedouin villages and Palestinian communities. In 2016, the first-generation HomeBiogas system became commercially available, attracting customers from over 40 countries. Further research, fine-tuning, and streamlining processes resulted in the most advanced model that was lower cost, easier to set up, and had a larger capacity for treating waste and making biogas, in 3 model sizes. Since then distributors and aid organizations alike have joined in HomeBiogas’ efforts to educate about the many benefits of biogas technology. They have deployed over 10,000 biogas systems in 100+ countries worldwide, benefiting the environment and helping people transform theirlives and improve their health by shifting to clean renewable energy. Tell us about your technology! Overall, we produce small, medium, and large-scale, off-grid biogas systems that offer a comprehensive solution for waste management, renewable energy creation, clean cooking, natural fertilizer production, and sanitation for households and farmers in peri-urban and rural areas. We have three different models of our system: HBG 2, HBG 4, and HBG 7. Though all have different dimensions, max inputs, and daily cooking time, they all serve the same purpose of converting organic waste, including food waste, animal manure, and human waste into clean renewable energy, in the form of cooking gas & natural fertilizer. In the past 3 years, we’ve added the HBG Bio-Toilet, which serves as an off-grid and dignifying sanitation solution to manage human waste. It works by sending waste from the toilet directly into the HBG biodigester. This allows for water-saving, economic savings, and improved sanitation and hygiene for settings that may normally practice open defecation. We’ve also developed a Commercial System that can treat up to one ton of organic waste a day! The system is designed for industrial kitchens such as shared dining halls, hospitals, army bases or any commercial setting that produces food waste. The Commercial System is currently bein used at a kibbutz dining hall and a cafeteria in a boarding school in Israel and will be commercially available worldwide by the end of the year. What makes your product unique to emerging markets, and how did you begin engaging with them? Our products are fully off-grid, making them extremely useful and relevant for rural communities or developing countries with unstable connectivity. There is no requirement for electrical connection or intensive digging, and every Biogas system comes in two boxes with a kit for easy transport and installation. This is useful for emerging markets as it can be completely “DIY”, not requiring purchase or access to any outside items or materials. After initially piloting HomeBiogas in Israel and Palestine, we decided to expand our search globally to understand who could truly benefit from our product. We identified two main characteristics of populations that could find our product useful, including those living off-grid and those with environmental concerns. Through these populations, we understood that emerging markets shared these characteristics, as they had matching needs for clean cooking gas. We sought partnerships with distribution companies and/or development programs, and found ourselves first penetrating the markets of Kenya, Brazil, and Mexico. What would your advice be to companies considering looking at emerging markets? One word: focus! You don’t want to be everywhere, and you cannot be everywhere. Try to reach places and markets where your first milestone will be easier, as there is a lot of support and investment required to reach it. For example, in the markets we targeted, we weren’t introducing biogas, but instead introducing a scalable product that matched an underlying need. Another key to penetrating emerging markets is finding the right partner. We found success working with local people, as they could provide us with all the rules, regulations, cultural insights, and connections to our target audience. Watch this video to learn more about HomeBiogas and their global impact.

The Innovation Journey Program was created as a matchmaking opportunity for innovative Israeli digital AgTech startups and players in Ethiopia that are engaged with smallholder farmers. The goal of the program was to build innovative partnerships that will pave the way for Israeli startups to enter the large agricultural market in Ethiopia while contributing to increasing productivity, output quality, and income among smallholder farmers. Now, some of the invaluable insights acquired during the program are available to anyone who wishes to understand the Ethiopian market better. Throughout 2021, the Pears Program for Global Innovation partnered with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to build and steward the second cohort of the Innovation Journey Program (IJ2). After concluding IJ2 and consolidating the acquired materials, the organizations are proud to share a handbook that contains the knowledge that was generated about the market and its opportunities. When thinking about agriculture markets with high potential in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia presents an interesting case. With a population of 115 million people, Ethiopia is the second most populous country on the continent and is strategically located between the supply chains of Asia and Europe. Agriculture, in particular, is the country’s main source of employment and exports. Ethiopia is the 5th largest producer of coffee globally and the homeland of the Arabica blend; hosts the largest cattle population in Africa; increasingly supports textile production; and has potential to address some of the global demands for certain crops, improving its farmers productivity and diversifying their produce. During the past few years, the government has promoted policies that are intended to liberalize the market and a historic peace agreement was brokered with Eritrea which gave landlocked Ethiopia the prospect of strategic access to ports. At the same time, Ethiopia also suffers from a challenging reality that makes doing business there quite complex. Forex is extremely limited, smallholder farmers have virtually no access to finance, and the market suffers from inefficiencies due to the persistence of monopolies in some sectors. There is low penetration of information and communication technologies (ICT) services and almost no digital payments infrastructure. Internal unrest during the past 18 months has created instability and concerns for the future. Some potential investors and entrepreneurs might question whether the opportunity is worth the challenge. IJ2 was built to expose Israeli AgTech innovative technologies to the opportunities and the specificities of the Ethiopian market, giving them the chance to explore it carefully and intelligently. It was designed to teach selected startups about the realities of smallholder farming in Ethiopia and help them understand how to effectively engage with the market. Moreover, due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions that persisted throughout 2021, the planned trip to Ethiopia was replaced by a matchmaking process that brought together the participating companies and stakeholders from the Ethiopian agriculture market virtually, helping them explore opportunities for collaboration based on structured interactions. The program concluded in November 2021 and generated several successes. Ten innovative digital agriculture startups from Israel went through a learning and adaptation process and were matched with 19 stakeholders from Ethiopia’s agriculture sector. Around 50 hours of training, mentorship and interaction and some 17 initial partnership discussions show that despite the market’s challenges, both sides are keen to engage and explore working together. One Israeli startup even took the decision to make Ethiopia its primary target market for 2022 and has advanced into a market entry process there. The voices from the field indicate that with recent changes in regulation around digital payments, the opportunity is becoming even bigger. We at the Pears Program believe that the first necessary step in exploring a new developing market is understanding its reality, which very often varies significantly from what we are used to in more established markets. Knowing better the conditions on the ground and the needs can help us shape more precisely our value proposition and talk to partners in a way that they feel that we have something they truly need. This is why we are sharing this important source of knowledge, with the hope it reaches more Israeli innovative tech players and stimulates their curiosity and sense of opportunity in the Ethiopian market. Although bringing technology to the Ethiopian market will not be easy, the green field it currently offers may become a huge success in the longer term.

This month we are spotlighting Dana Pousty, Co-Founder and CTO of SoLED. Based in Israel, Dana participated in the IsraAID-Pears Program Humanitarian Market Bootcamp & Pilot Fund 2021. What is SoLED's story? SoLED was initially developed by Prof. Hadas Mamane, the Head of Environmental Engineering at TAU, and Ph.D. student Dana Pousty, a UV-LED disinfection specialist at the Water Tech lab led by Hadas. In the past five years, the lab deeply researched the UV-LED disinfection method and the developing countries' challenges with implementing proper water treatments. After developing the core technology and with the aim of providing continuous safe water for low-income countries, they decided to take it to the next level to bring the idea to life with experienced business professionals – Itai Arad, CEO, and Meir Morgenstern, a serial entrepreneur. After extensive months of translating the research into a product and business concept, they founded the company. Tell us about the technology. SoLED offers a “Safe Water Platform” (aka SWaP) – a unique end-to-end platform for water treatment in developing countries that combines three main components. 1. Disinfection – patented off-grid disinfection device 2. Remote control – IoT technology to enable remote control and monitoring 3. Quality analysis – proprietary sensor and algorithms for water quality visibility in real-time The disinfection device is based on a small portable water disinfection reactor, based on a patented UV-LED technology. The device can be connected to any standard pipe or filtration system to eliminate any kind of bacteria or virus to the highest standard with minimal energy consumption. In addition, its unique mechanical design allows off-grid operations which is critical in developing countries, and thanks to our patent we also overcome one of the UV drawbacks – organism regrowth in water storage tanks. The system includes a unique machine learning sensor that can measure and indicate the microbial water quality in real-time - replacing the existing technologies that require sending water samples to designated laboratories. Moreover, the IoT system that collects data from all the devices in the field provides real-time usage data and maintenance alerts to assure allows continuous operations, allowing to dramatically reduce maintenance costs and efforts. What markets are you targeting? How do you plan on entering those markets? Our solution is focused on addressing developing countries' poor water scenarios. As such, we are targeting the developing markets, especially India and Africa. Our penetration strategy is based on design partnerships with established companies who already have a strong market grab in those locations with complementary offerings such as energy infrastructure, water treatment facilities etc. What would you say about the impact ecosystem in Israel? We are very excited about the growing impact ecosystem in Israel. In the past year, we had the chance to meet and collaborate with various firms as well as participate in several programs that focus on impact and sustainability to help companies like us to build solutions that focus on doing good while establishing a successful business. It is thrilling to experience the growth of this ecosystem of great people who want to help one another. Dana, you are a PhD student and you are now launching your company as a CTO. Did you ever imagine yourself being such a young entrepreneur? Honestly, if you were asking me two years ago if this is something I am going to do in the short term, I wouldn’t say so. But the drive to solve this huge problem and knowing we are able to build the amazing technology to support billions of people to gain access to safe water didn’t leave me with a choice. I am working hard and learning every day from great people.

We are thrilled to share the final evaluation report of Plethora's Pilot with IsraAID in Dominica from December 2020- April 2021. Plethora is a pedagogical game-like environment that develops problem solving and computational thinking skills through an intuitive one of a kind interface that shifts the focus from coding language and syntax to pure thinking processes. The use of the technology resulted in the following positive outcomes: The use of the platform improved problem solving and logical reasoning, The game helped to reduce the gap between genders. Students enhanced their competency in approaching problems. Students were very engaged with the platform. The game increased competitiveness levels among students – mostly for the better Students loved the software’s graphics, particularly the shapes and colours; The report also mentions a few areas of improvement adapting the technology to the local context. Read the full report here. We would like to thank Effi Baruch, CEO of Plethora, IsraAID's team in HQ and in Dominica, MoE in Dominica who collaborated, and special thank you to the Edmund De Rothschild Foundation for supporting this initiative.

We are thrilled to share the final evaluation report of EZ Pack's Pilot with IsraAID in Colombia, during the period of March-September 2022. In 2022, the Pears Program-IsraAID Pilot Fund deployed EZPack's Reverse Osmosis off-grid system in two locations in Colombia. In collaboration with local partners and communities, the systems were implemented, and their quality and impact were assessed over a seven month period. The final report shares the findings to the two expected outcomes: Outcome 1: Improved access to potable water infrastructure in the target community. Outcome 2: Residents have increased awareness & knowledge of hygiene and sanitation practices. This pilot was made possible with the kind support of the Israeli Embassy in Colombia and the Edmond de Rothchild Foundation. Read the full report here. Thank you to IsraAID for the incredible photos!

This time, we are spotlighting Gabriel Saunyama, CEO at ChromePay. Gabriel participated in the Innovation Journey 2021. What is ChromePay's story? Chromepay, an inclusive fintech start-up was founded by Gabriel Saunyama and Munashe Zanza, two young Zimbabweans with a drive to impact the African financial ecosystem. They founded the company to promote digital financial inclusion for the millions of Africans today that cannot access financial services for whatever means such as due to the lack of a bank account or the absence of an official National ID. Tell us about the technology? Through our platform, Chromepay is providing a unique digital identity to simplify the verification process in conjunction with an array of financial services available in the Chromepay ecosystem. What is your motivation for doing what you do? As people who have operated in the informal sector before, we have seen how pivotal digital finance can be however many people have been disenfranchised in that they do not have the means to register and verify their identities to use these services. This is particularly prevalent amongst women and it is an issue that needs to be addressed now. Addressing this issue by providing access to digital financial services is what motivates us and drives Chromepay forward. What is your tip to impact entrepreneurs? To all impact entrepreneurs always be willing to take the right advice and learn from others. Ego has no place in entrepreneurship, you need to accept that you don't know everything. That is not to say all advice is good advice, as Bruce Lee stated, "absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely yours".

A year ago, our New Year’s message was one of hope: a COVID-19 vaccine had been developed in record time, and we looked forward to a year of recovery and normalcy. Instead, we begin 2022 watching Omicron numbers peak worldwide, with COVID entering its third year of devastating impact on global health, food security and economic systems, particularly in the global south. Looking back, 2021 brought us a clear message: none of us are safe without all of us being safe. Rich countries’ scramble to vaccinate their own populations while disregarding the situation in low- and middle-income countries did not protect them from COVID, rather it made them vulnerable to new variants. Moreover, this lesson, that we cannot assure our welfare without looking to the welfare of all, was evident in other areas as well: unprecedented numbers of tropical storms, floods and wildfires reminded us that while developing countries still pay the highest price in climate change impact, in the end, we are all at peril. And so, with this growing realization, the countries of the world met to speak about how to move forward together to addressing the world’s problems: COVAX, COP-26 and the UN Global Food Systems summit all brought renewed commitment to global action and impassioned speeches emphasizing not only the need to combat inequality but also the important role new technologies and innovation have in addressing our joint challenges. We all wait to see whether in 2022, these speeches will translate into concerted action and real change. Here at the Pears Program, we have spent much of the past year thinking about how we can grow our partnerships and improve our impact by broadening the scope of our engagement with innovation ecosystems of the global South. For the first time, we operated a program whose aim was supporting Ghanian AgriTech startups, in partnership with Innohub Ghana and the Embassy of Israel in Accra. The AgriTechAccel program connected Ghanaian tech-enabled growth-stage startups with Israeli technology experts who supported the startups develop and refine their technology products. We hope that this will be the first of many new programs harnessing Israeli technology and innovation expertise for the benefit of African innovators and enhancing exchange and collaboration between ecosystems. In addition, we continued with our work to support Israeli tech startups that are working with local partners in the developing world. We welcomed a second cohort of companies into the Innovation Journey program in partnership with the JDC, which focused on supporting Israeli Digital AgriTech startups in adapting their product to the smallholder farmer’s market in Ethiopia in cooperation with 17 partners operating on the ground in Ethiopia. The second cohort of the Pears Program-IsraAID pilot fund introduced 11 companies with innovative solutions for WASH, public health, education, and data management to the humanitarian world and two companies from the first cohort piloted their solutions in Columbia and Dominica. We also launched two new programs to support Israeli startups with technologies addressing development challenges: the 360 Connect Platform and the Pears Clinic. We developed and launched the Fifth Pears Challenge on Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in Ghana, which will work with outstanding Israeli innovators and entrepreneurs and partners from Ghana in the coming year to help develop high-impact tech ventures addressing food system needs in West Africa. Moreover, we continue to work with the Israeli government to translate our decade-long experience of working with startups addressing development challenges to governmental policies that can catalyze and support technology innovation for development. Our hope for 2022 is that we will be able to continue to develop new partnerships and collaborations, connecting between Israelis and partners in the global South, between innovation ecosystems and international development actors, in ways that will enable us together to address the world’s most critical development challenges for the benefit of all. Wishing you all a year of partnership, action, and impact! Hagit Freud, Managing Director & the Pears Program team