By Ndumbe Bell Joseph Gaston in Douala
A young Cameroonian start-upper in the livestock sector has been recognised by the Global Start-up Award for out-witting other competitors in the Central African Region and the first in Africa for his contributions in creating an innovative platform that promotes and facilitates exchange in trade (goods), services and the sharing of the latest trends and experiences among actors in the domain across the globe.
The surprise announcement was made by the CEO and Co- founder of Global Start-Up Award, Kim Balle, naming GAJO Livestock Cameroon as the awards winner of the entire Central African Region during a ceremony marking their 11th edition in Copenhagen, Denmark last recently. The event was attended by a plethora of invitees such as statesmen, investors, scientists and especially members of the global seven regional livestock innovative groups namely South Europe, Nordic, Euro-Asian, ASEAN, African and ASAAC participants.
Fotso Ngassa
GAJO Livestock founder and CEO, Fotso Ngassa was quoted as saying that in the process of trying to reinstate his cattle ranch and farm that was unfortunately victimized and destroyed by separatists. In another unfortunate incident, even his slaughter house at Cite de Palmiers was destroyed because of unexplained land problems.
Ngassa later came into contact with many actors in this domain from where he identified the many problems and challenges. This inspired him to create an enabling platform (APP) to facilitate such exchanges of goods and services for those in the sector.
Presently, Fotso Ngassa says they are an agritech start-up that offers a marketplace for standard traceable purchases and sale of livestock products, livestock insurance, veterinary pharmacy, training, sale of feeds made easier through the installation and integration of an artificial intelligence (A.I) system and their magazine featuring actors in various countries and more.
The GAJO Livestock man reiterated their mission for having an innovative platform to help bring together the livestock experts to uplift livestock farmers by introducing digital innovation to the backward rural areas and other end users, at the same time innovating for animal healthcare and sustainable food security while assuring their visibility.
In a video presentation made available, the CEO and Co-founder, Kim Balle, encouraged all the global seven regional award winners to work harder. Accompanied by the Co-founder of Global Start-Up Award, Peter Kovacs, and senior investors, Kim told all the seven regional winners that selection of the top global best will take place on September 7 in Istanbul, Turkey where there will be a pre-selection made by the thousands of members expected, before a jury will be constituted to know the global winner. An executive of the African Development Bank who spoke in Denmark stated that 449 million U.S dollars had been reserved to promote, improve and develop the livestock sector in Africa and beyond. Winners will be introduced to financial investors.