Kenyan Enterprises Win Big at Sankalp Africa Awards 2024

by Ian Elroy Ogonji March 1, 2024 · News

Two Kenyan enterprises secured the first and second positions at the recently concluded Sankalp Africa Awards 2024 during the 11th Sankalp Africa Summit 2024, an event centered on Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Toothpick Company from Kenya won the 11th Sankalp Africa Awards. They aim to reduce chemical pesticides and make farming safer, cheaper, and better. The story of Toothpick Company is inspiring to say the least. Led by Claire Sands-Baker, the genesis of the idea was around an innovation her father had dabbled in for over 40 years. Now they help farmers and are getting famous in the big industry of chemical weed management.

“Winning this award is an opportunity for us to showcase an innovation which opens the eyes of the world to new styles of weed management. We are proud of our strong ability to work with farmers on the ground, enabling us to move from a super high-tech innovation to actually delivering for Kenyan farmers, and African farmers as a whole,” said Sands-Baker.

The 1st Runner Up was Keep IT Cool, an Agri enterprise which provides proximate refrigerated cooling boxes and transport to underserved smallholder fishermen and fish farmers in East Africa. What makes their idea compelling is the end-to-end cold chain logistics solution they are leveraging while using technology to scale their business.

Panel discussion on entrepreneurs leading the way towards sustainable development goals (SDGs) at Sankalp Africa Summit on February 28, 2024. Photo: Sankalp Forum

“We are thrilled to receive the 1^strunner-up prize at the Sankalp Africa Awards and it is satisfying to have our efforts be acknowledged by experts in the industry,” said Nderitu.

“The win encourages us to continue with our impactful work in the food and nutrition industry,” he added.

The second-place winner was Keep IT Cool, an agricultural business that offers refrigerated cooling boxes and transportation services to small-scale fishermen and fish farmers in East Africa. Their innovative approach involves utilizing a complete cold chain logistics solution and harnessing technology to expand their operations.

The Ecosystem Award Winner, which is uniquely chosen by a democratic voting system, went to Agrosahas International Private Ltd., an Agri enterprise from Uganda that aids 10,000Ugandan farmers through their proprietary tech-driven platform, proving beyond doubt that tech-driven ideas make for a transformative impact.

Entrepreneurs at the Sankalp Africa Summit. Photo: Sankalp Forum

Every year, SankalpAfrica showcases outstanding enterprises and this year there were 11 promising finalist startups at the Sankalp Africa Awards 2024, with 7 hailing from Kenya.

One of Africa’s largest convenings on impact entrepreneurship and sustainable development, the 11th Sankalp Africa Summit 2024, hosted by Aavishkaar Group and Intellecap took place between the 28^th and 29^th of February at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies (KSMS) in Nairobi.

This year the Summit has positively engaged over 1,500 different stakeholders from across 60+ countries in over 35+ Sessions featuring 200+ Speakers with 20+ Hours of Learning, covering the development ecosystem, to discuss, define, and drive forward the critical levers of catalysing impact and igniting Africa’s potential for a just potential.

The journey of Sankalp Africa has been one of milestones and impact. The premier convening started 11 years ago as they took their pioneering entrepreneurship-led development model and blended it with their popular flagship convening aiming to enhance the entrepreneurial landscape and support the development sector in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

Now with chapters in East Africa and West Africa, Sankalp truly highlights how complex social challenges can be addressed with decisive action by a gathering of Change makers through conversations, discussions and collaboration to drive innovation, ideas, investments and impact.