Unlocking New Markets: First Steps into Ethiopia

For their first market outside Israel, Lord International chose Ethiopia, seeing it as an ideal entry point for their cooling technology. After joining his father’s business for cooling and air conditioning systems for automotive, Liran Hikri decided to expand globally after decades of focusing solely on Israel. He identified a critical need for reliable cold-chain solutions in low and middle-income countries, where the lack of refrigeration led to significant food losses and reduced farmers' incomes. Ethiopia was a natural choice, given its geographic proximity, good ties with Israel, and pressing demand for cold-chain solutions to improve food security. In 2014, they launched a pilot with Ethiopia's largest conglomerate, MIDROC, offering retrofitted cooling for existing fleets as a cost-effective alternative to imported refrigerated trucks. Although the pilot succeeded, foreign exchange challenges, a chronic problem in Ethiopia that is being fixed these days, hindered their ability to scale in the market. Nevertheless, Lord International stayed committed, building relationships and signaling their intent to establish a long-term presence in the region.

Following years of patient opportunity exploration with Ethiopia, including maintaining close relationships with key players, in 2019, Lord International joined the Innovation Journey matchmaking program, a Ministry of Economy and Industry of Israel funded program led by JDC, in partnership with the Pears Program for Global Innovation. Through this program, they received valuable insights on the market and refined their communication and marketing strategy. They were able to understand thoroughly the challenge of cold chain transportation in low and middle-income countries, while also understanding the specificities of Ethiopia on the ground that need to be taken into account. They also acquired significant exposure, which facilitated their approach to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group.

Pivoting Towards “GreenTech” and Solar-Powered Cooling

Openness to the Innovation Journey created a pivotal opportunity for Lord International when, in late 2019, the Pears Program connected them with IFC’s Tech Emerge program. Co-established with support from Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry, this initiative facilitates pilot partnerships between innovative tech providers and local stakeholders in low- and middle-income countries. In 2020, with TechEmerge focusing on cold-chain management, Lord International was presented with an opportunity to showcase its solutions to a global institution.

Recognizing the relevance and adaptability of Lord’s technology, the IFC encouraged the company to explore renewable energy options for their cooling systems. This exploration not only could enhance cooling capabilities without increasing greenhouse gas emissions but also directly contributed to two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): climate action and sustainable agriculture. Demonstrating their responsiveness to market needs, Lord International partnered with Ofer Energy, an Israeli solar energy company, to establish Greentech, a joint venture dedicated to solar-powered refrigeration solutions. Together, they developed the precise solutions the IFC sought—solar-powered refrigeration systems for temperature-controlled transportation.

As part of IFC’s Tech Emerge program, Greentech launched a pilot with Farm to Feed, a Kenyan startup focused on aggregating and selling imperfect and surplus produce from farmers at risk of food loss. The project aimed to design and implement a renewable energy-powered refrigerated truck solution for the sustainable transport of fruits and vegetables. Overcoming significant technological challenges, the team had to maximize solar panel efficiency within the limited roof space of the truck while maintaining a consistent temperature of 10-18 degrees Celsius for extended periods. In practice, Greentech developed a whole new product to respond to this challenge. Running through 2024, the proof-of-concept pilot demonstrated impressive results, reducing costs, GHG emissions, and post-harvest losses. Additionally, the increased solar cooling capacity allowed for sourcing produce from more distant locations, expanding market access for a larger number of farmers and integrating them into the supply chain.

Greentech noted in their report, “the pilot has demonstrated strong viability and can be effectively replicated in other markets. The success of this pilot, without significant operational or technical challenges, points to a strong foundation for scalability”. Their implementing partner indicated, “these advancements directly reduced quality-related rejections from customers, underscoring the solution's immediate impact”. Recognized by IFC as a standout achievement within the Tech Emerge program, the pilot reinforces Greentech's potential as an impactful market solution and opens doors for further expansion.

The successful pilot of Greentech’s solar-powered, engine-independent refrigeration for trucks has proven that efficient transport refrigeration is achievable, opening new pathways for Greentech to establish itself as a leader in the transport and refrigeration market, delivering solutions to those who need them most. Greentech is now finalizing modular cooling units adaptable to various contexts, including shipping containers, enabling flexible use for both stationary and mobile storage across industries. The IFC, in close collaboration with Greentech, is eager to see this innovation come to market and has expressed interest in potential direct investment or in facilitating connections with major industry players for further implementation. This video indicates that they are fully heading towards this direction.  

Lessons Learned on the Journey

Lord International’s transformation from a family business into GreenTech, an internationally recognized player, reveals several key insights for companies seeking to enter emerging markets:

Patience and Persistence: this experience highlights the importance of a long-term approach. Rather than being discouraged by Ethiopia’s FOREX issues, the company maintained relationships and remained adaptable, finding ways to overcome obstacles as they arose.

Deep Market Learning: Through programs like Innovation Journey and TechEmerge, GreenTech gained invaluable insights into the unique demands of low and middle-income markets. These insights enabled them to tailor their messaging and build stronger relationships, emphasizing the importance of understanding market specifics.

Active Listening and Adaptability: Listening to stakeholders and adapting accordingly was key to GreenTech’s success. By prioritizing renewable energy at the IFC’s suggestion, joint venture was able to co-create a solar-powered system, showcasing a willingness to pivot in response to market demands.

Investing in Relationships: GreenTech invested in long-term partnerships rather than aiming for quick wins. Building trust with local stakeholders and maintaining connections over the years allowed them to foster a network that would support their long-term growth.

This is an important example of the time and skills often required to unlock low and middle income countries, and an inspiration for everyone investing energy and time to bring technological innovation to the right places.

Now, five years later, we’ve concluded the fourth and final cohort of the Innovation Journey program. The results are promising:

• 33 companies completed a comprehensive process, including market deep dives, product-market fit adaptation, matchmaking with local partners, and securing funds for pilots.

• 9 partnerships are ongoing.

• 5 pilots were (or are still)  implemented, aided by four $25K grants secured by JDC.

On September 19th, we celebrated the wrap-up of the fourth and last cohort by showcasing four case studies—each representing a key lesson learned about market entry and scaling in Ethiopia and South Africa (where we shifted due to the conflict in Ethiopia). These lessons offer invaluable insights for any entrepreneur or company looking to expand into low- and middle-income countries.

Five years, four cohorts, and countless insights later, our journey to bring Israeli agritech to Ethiopia has been nothing short of transformative. From unlocking market opportunities to driving innovative pilots, we’ve helped 33 companies navigate challenges and build meaningful impact. This blog shares the hard-earned lessons that every entrepreneur needs to know about patience, adaptability, and forging the right partnerships in emerging markets. Dive in to discover how Israeli innovation is making a difference—and what’s next for agritech in Africa!

Lesson One: Patience is the Key

The story of Chromepay stands as a testament to the power of patience. When the company joined the second cohort of the Innovation Journey, they were already operating in Nigeria, offering mobile payment and money transfer solutions. Ethiopia, with its tightly controlled and monopolistic telecom sector, seemed like a distant, if intriguing, possibility.

Through his participation in the program, CEO Gabriel Sunyama recognized a critical trend—the Ethiopian market was beginning to open up. This shift presented a unique opportunity for Chromepay to pivot to providing digital identities that could unlock access to financial services for the country’s vast population of unbanked and underbanked individuals, particularly smallholder farmers.

Gabriel decided to take the opportunity and committed to making Ethiopia a strategic focus. Through the Innovation Journey, Chromepay formed a strong partnership with the international NGO iDE, secured grant funding for a pilot from the Fuse Blockchain Network and Venture Meda by IceAddiss and Mastercard Foundation, and engaged with multiple local stakeholders. In addition, they secured a collaboration with JDC’s TOV program that brings agritech and seeds to smallholder farmers, which served as an additional leverage to Cromepay’s market engagement. 

Today, despite a devastating civil war and ongoing regional instability, Chromepay is steadily advancing its pilot, with both organizations,  and is now active across 5 regions in Ethiopia.. They are expanding their reach among smallholder farmers and building new partnerships. Their success underscores a critical lesson:

Building a presence in a complex market like Ethiopia is a marathon, not a sprint.

Processes are slow, trust-building with partners takes even longer, and unexpected risks—from regulatory hurdles to geopolitical conflicts—can disrupt progress. Chromepay’s resilience and commitment have positioned them to capitalize on Ethiopia's evolving telecom sector. With ongoing reforms accelerating, Chromepay is now well-placed to reap the rewards of its long-term investment when the market fully opens.

Lesson Two: Listen to the Field

The journey of Lord International highlights the importance of listening to local feedback and adapting accordingly. Initially a legacy company focused on manufacturing, installing, and servicing of vehicle cooling and air conditioning systems, as well as vehicle spare parts, Lord International sought to expand into leading markets in Sub Saharan Africa such as Ethiopia. Their participation in the first cohort of the Innovation Journey provided critical insights into how the cold chain operates in emerging markets.

This experience led to their exposure to the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), where they were accepted into the TechEmerge pilot program. Based on feedback from the IFC, they pivoted to focus on solar-powered cold chain solutions, aligning with a global trend of building technological capabilities without increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Recently, they successfully concluded their pilot within the program, with Farm to Feed, a Kenyan startup focused on aggregating and selling imperfect and surplus produce from farmers, yielding promising prospects for scaling and future investment. To address the technological demands identified during the pilot design, Lord International joined forces with Ofer Green Energy, which specializes in solar energy solutions, and together they established the joint venture Greentech Cooling Solutions. This venture, along with the technology developed specifically to meet the pilot's needs, exemplifies how both Lord International and Greentech Cooling were willing to listen to the field and adapt the product features accordingly—ultimately positioning them at the forefront of a powerful global trend in sustainable cold chain solutions.

The key takeaway? The field knows best, and companies should be ready to listen and adapt accordingly.

While external expertise is valuable, local partners possess deep knowledge of the environment, user behavior, and market dynamics. By remaining open to feedback and making strategic adjustments, Lord International unlocked new opportunities that would have been missed with a rigid, top-down approach.

Lesson Three: Relationships are Critical

For H4Bess, a company offering a feed supplement for bees to enhance honey yields and pollination, the South African market presented both promise and challenge (In 2022 the Innovation journey was focused on South Africa due to the raging war in Ethiopia). While their value proposition was clear and compelling, securing partnerships and implementing solutions in South Africa required more than a logical pitch—it required thorough relationship-building.

During their participation in the third cohort, H4Bess invested significant time and effort into building a partnership with the right local stakeholders, even if at times it wasn’t easy and required going an extra mile to build mutual understanding and trust . This effort resulted in a pilot supported by a JDC grant based on a carefully built relationship with a local partner. As they work tirelessly to conclude their pilot and prove their concept in South Africa, they are already exploring  expansion into additional African markets, which offer an ever expanding promise.

In low- and middle-income countries, personal relationships and chemistry are key in business doing.

Beyond a well-researched business case, business success in countries like South Africa also requires mutual trust, cultural understanding, and personal connection. H4Bess recognized this and took the time to align with their partners, ensuring mutual understanding and shared goals.

Lesson Four: Find the Right Partner

The story of SoliDrip during the third cohort of the Innovation Journey may seem like a standard market entry, but it was anything but ordinary. Originally focused on urban greening and biophilic building solutions for developed markets, SoliDrip saw potential in exploring South Africa through the Innovation Journey program. Their autonomous drip irrigation technology—capable of providing precise irrigation to individual plants without the need for energy or connectivity—offered a promising solution for addressing urban food production challenges.

Through the program, they connected with 10 Million Makers (10MM), a local NGO working in Johannesburg to support residents of underserved urban areas in growing food in the city, thereby addressing food insecurity in what is defined as agricultural deserts, and building sustainable livelihood alternatives. Initially sceptical about the market’s challenges, SoliDrip’s evolving relationship with 10MM prompted them to explore the partnership further, entrusting 10MM to take the lead in designing the local strategy.

This collaboration resulted in SoliDrip securing a grant from JDC and launching a pilot that has been running successfully for over a year and a half. The pilot has validated their technology's potential and opened multiple avenues for deepening their engagement and scaling their solution across South Africa.

The lesson? A traditional distributor might not be the best first partner in emerging markets.

Instead, NGOs and community-based organizations that work directly with target users can provide invaluable support. They offer local expertise, help adapt the product to real-world conditions, and can facilitate capacity-building efforts that enhance the product’s impact.

Looking Ahead: Balancing Risk and Opportunity

These four lessons offer a roadmap for companies looking to engage with low- and middle-income countries. These markets are often seen as "blue oceans"—filled with unmet needs, impact potential, and business opportunities. But success requires more than a great product; it demands patience, adaptability, relationship-building, and strategic partnerships.

The Innovation Journey may have concluded, but the insights and successes it generated will keep serving companies for years to come.

At the Pears Program for Global Innovation, we remain committed to supporting Israeli technologies in their quest to make a meaningful impact in these challenging but promising markets. By learning from the experience of others and building on proven methodologies, we can continue to bring Israeli innovation to the world.

Meet the Companies & Representatives

• DL Analytics

  

  DL Analytics is an innovative FemTech company developing phone-based AI imaging solutions for cervical cancer screening and management in under-resourced health systems.

  Representative: David Levitz, CEO & CTO

• Agri-Light

  
  

  

  Agri-Light Energy Systems is an Israeli company focused on developing and commercially implementing the most advanced agrivoltaic technology to optimize energy generation and crop cultivation, together in dual land use settings. It is led by a diverse group of renewable energy, precision agriculture, environment and sustainability, and data analytics experts with extensive experience in the above stated fields.

  Representative: Elisha Rubin, Co-CEO & Chairman

• Rural Senses

  
  

  

  Rural Senses combines AI innovation with authentic community voices to MEASURE, MANAGE, and CELEBRATE impact, simply.The company utilizes networks of local data collectors, advanced AIt echnology, and a robust methodology developed at the University of Cambridge. It partners with leading international non-profits that work with vulnerable communities.

  Representative: Ngesa Maturu, Senior Partnerships Manage

• Avenews

  
  

  
  

  

  Avenews is a digital platform tailored for agri-SMBs in Africa, aimed at providing crucial access to credit and specialized financial products, including working capital loans and invoice financing. Their mission is to make essential capital readily available, enabling agri-SMBs to thrive and contribute to sustainable development across the continent

  Representative: Mumbi Wachiuri, Head of Risk

• Tal-Ya

  
  

  

  Tal-Ya brings the world a new earth-friendly AgriTech solution that enhances naturally occurring processes in plants while addressing the issues of water shortage, extreme weather conditions, overuse of chemicals, and soil degradation. Tal-Ya's Mirtra is easy to use and brings tremendous added value to farmers, dramatically increasing crop yield, and enabling farmers to harvest more from each tree, faster. Additionally, the use of Tal-Ya’s Mitra saves at least 50% of water, 50% of fertilizer, and functions as an alternative to herbicide (weed-killer).

  Representatives: Oded Distel, CEO & Allan Greene, Director of East Africa

• ZZapp Malaria

  
  

  

  Zzapp Malaria aims to eradicate malaria in Africa- a disease affecting the health and livelihood of hundreds of millions of people. To that end, it developed an AI-based platform that significantly increases effectiveness of large-scale malaria control and elimination operations while dramatically reducing costs.

  Representative: Paul Hollwedel, COO

  
  

Kenya-Israel Business Seminar

The delegation started off with a B2B seminar put together by our fabulous and collaborative partners, the Israel Economic Mission to Kenya, where we were astounded by the 115 attendees joining from 84 Kenyan companies, looking to hear from the delegates and seek potential routes for collaboration. The event included presentations by all six companies, followed by B2B meetings between the delegates and Kenyan attendees, curated and matched by the Israel Economic Mission to Kenya. The day ended with a cocktail event for more opportunities to network and mingle. This day was a perfect start to the delegation for the representatives joining us, giving them direct exposure to potential partners, as well as an opportunity to present themselves and what they are looking to gain from the trip. We are so grateful for the tremendous effort by the Israel Economic Mission to Kenya to put together such a spirited event, warmly welcoming and introducing Israeli companies to representatives of Kenya’s innovation ecosystem. The delegates left impressed by the event's production quality and business potential, while Kenyan companies expressed interest in future visits to Israel and continuing conversations with many of the delegates. 

Sankalp Annual Summit

When the time came to attend the Sankalp Africa Summit, our delegates were rested and ready for the main event. As official partners of the event for the first time, we hosted a booth with the Israel Economic Mission to Kenya where we showcased the companies and their solutions. Participants that came to our booth were able to meet face-to-face with the delegates, as well as access their contact information and read more about them in the catalog we prepared.

In the weeks leading up to Sankalp, the Pears Program team prepared the companies with curated stakeholder mapping to maximize their time at the conference, as well as assistance in accessing potential speaking engagements to heighten their exposure at the conference itself. We were thrilled to watch Elisha Rubin, Executive Chairman and Co-CEO of Agri-Light participate in the Climate Investor Dealroom  session, where he pitched for potential investors and got the chance to expand his network and future opportunities in the continent. 

Sankalp was an incredible opportunity to expose a handful of startups in our community to Africa’s innovation ecosystem, and vice versa. We are very grateful to Sankalp for welcoming us as official partners, as well as the warm welcome extended to our delegates. We look forward to future summits with Sankalp Forum, Israel Economic Mission to Kenya, and more of Israel’s most cutting-edge DevTech companies. 

We invite you to get in touch with us if you are interested in exploring future delegations with Pears Program for Global Innovation.

South Africa (SA) is a unique country within its continent.  For decades it has been a pioneer of development, showing economic and infrastructural  growth. With GDP per capita triple the continent’s average and an agricultural sector resembling that of developed countries, the country is a magnet for innovation in the field. The variety of products exported by the country, such as citrus (2nd  globally) and wine (9th globally), serve as a proof for its excellence. At the same time, South Africa suffers from inequalities. The country still has 2 million smallholder farmers, majority black, that are left excluded from the booming agriculture sector. With limited access to infrastructure, finance, and markets they are left out of new agricultural practices and market opportunities that yield higher profits and productivity. Entire sectors, such as honey production and urban agriculture, are left untapped, and challenges of water supply and climate change hinder the efforts to incorporate these farmers into supply chains. 

This is exactly why South Africa’s smallholder farmers were a target population of Innovation Journey 3 (IJ3). The program was established with the goal of introducing cutting-edge Israeli agtech technologies to improve the livelihoods  of smallholder farmers. Unlike in many other low and middle income countries where smallholder farmers are faced with the challenges of dysfunctional supply chains and broken export channels, their South African counterparts have a well functioning sector, right across the road. This reality opens the door for strong collaborations and faster growth, with a multitude of strong players active in the market.

The third edition of the Innovation Journey program, taking place between June 2022 and May 2023, offered  a comprehensive process, focusing on meeting the needs of three focus areas: beekeeping, urban agriculture and climate smart irrigation. The end results were promising, generating 7 deep partnership discussions between SA and Israeli counterparts, and two $25K grants awarded by the JDC to two of the  partnerships that showed the most significant promise and potential. After a year-long process, led by the JDC, in partnership with the Ministry of Economy and Industry of Israel, and with the Pears Program for Global Innovation serving as the professional content partners, the third edition of the Innovation Journey was wrapped up in a festive and well-attended event in May 2023. 

Focus areas

The focus areas for IJ3 were selected based on comprehensive research of market trends and opportunities, as well as in alignment with JDC’s prior priorities and engagements within South Africa. 

Beekeeping is not living up to its potential in the country. While South Africa is a considerable consumer of honey and has favorable natural conditions for its production, half of the country’s honey is imported from China, with its beekeepers producing approximately one-third of the honey per hive, compared to their Israeli peers. Most of this honey is produced by small rural beekeepers with little resources, indicating major signs of untapped potential.

Another such untapped subsector is urban agriculture. While rural smallholder farmers have small plots to grow food for subsistence, many slums in big cities (called townships in SA) constitute big agricultural deserts, leaving many households to struggle generating  livelihoods and getting the food they need. Although urban agriculture can provide a lot of solutions in such cases, lack of knowledge and access to technologies that are adapted to their realities prevent them from turning to this solution. 

The third focus area was climate smart agriculture. Due to intense and prolonged droughts beginning in 2015, South African authorities limited water supply drastically, with a certain daily allowance per household. This ongoing crisis has seriously affected smallholder farmers, who predominantly rely on rain for irrigation. The Western Cape region, which is home to extensive agricultural activity, is experiencing increasing drought and dropping water levels in its aquifers, and will need to adapt to warmer temperatures in the future. This is an opportunity for technological innovation to help farmers improve production of crops by adapting to the climate change.

Following the identification of the 3 aforementioned areas, 11 partners from the SA ecosystems were recruited to explore partnerships with the program's participants.  After the identification of their needs, and an extensive and targeted recruitment process, 8 Israeli startups were admitted into the program: H4Bees, Ivry B-Hive, Solidrip, Nature Tech, BioLed, TalYa, EZPAck, and Agri-Light.

Over a period of six months, the startups went through a comprehensive process designed to create an optimal environment for partnership exploration:

• Deep market dive, learning about the environment on the ground in each subsector

• Processing of the acquired information to understand their market fit, and acquiring essential tools to hold a viable partnership discussion 

• Gradually engaging with the program’s South African partners to explore partnership interest and to design a partnership plan 

• Receiving fundraising mentorship to understand potential funding channels for their joint project or pilot

• Applying for the two $25K grants as a funding boost for their project

The program has been concluded with some important milestones having been reached. Out of 8 participants, 7 concluded the full process, and 3 partnerships continue to work towards implementation. The program discovered the crucial importance in grant funding support, not only for the awardees but also for other applicants. Grant funding incentivises exploring opportunities to potential joint projects more comprehensively than usual. This, combined with fundraising mentorship which opened the door to additional funding paths, helped both sides to continue communication and the exploration process. 

One of these partnerships is the collaboration between Solidrip and 10 Million Makers. Solidrip developed a cutting edge technology, which was designed to enhance urban greening in built environments. One of their unique value propositions is that the device is operating mechanically and doesn’t require connectivity and electricity supply. This creates potential for urban communities with needs to grow food and no access to electricity. Solidrip partnered with 10 Million Makers, an NGO which works to introduce simple urban agriculture practices in one of the townships of Johannesburg. The collaboration with Solidrip allows them to significantly increase the amount of produce grown, and as a result the income generated by the communities. The partnership pilots multiple concepts to adjust the technology to the township environment. 

With two partnerships at a pilot phase and one in the fundraising process, the organizers have optimistic expectations of seeing impactful technologies explore their viability in the South African smallholder farmer market. 

Applications for Innovation Journey 4 are now open! Innovation Journey (IJ) program is an opportunity for cutting edge Israeli ag-tech companies and Ethiopian agriculture ecosystem stakeholders to engage with one another and explore partnerships for piloting innovative technologies, with the goal of bringing value to Ethiopia’s agriculture market and small/medium-scale farmers. Apply here or reach out to us at ron.yakir@pearsprogram.com

Another notable trend during this crisis was the swift and confident pivot by Israel's private sector. With hundreds of thousands going to mandatory reserve duty, evacuated from their homes, and directly impacted by the tragedy, the private sector’s actions and redirection of resources are not a given. Rural Senses is a perfect example of a company that did just that. Rural Senses is a UK/Israeli-based Social Enterprise that originates from 7 years of research conducted at the University of Cambridge. Rural Senses helps nonprofits and community leaders to build more targeted projects, increase project adoption and raise more funding. Their AI-powered tools are used to collect, analyze and visualize data about the changing priorities and perceptions of community members and give the users tools for rapid needs assessment.

Given their expertise in needs assessment, Rural Senses was quickly connected to Israel’s Ministry of Welfare (MoW) through Moked Arava. The MoW was deep in situation assessment mode, trying to identify the most pressing needs across the country in order to accurately and effectively respond. In the unique landscape of this emergency, where every corner of the country felt the impact, the challenge lay in identifying the most urgent needs. Within a week of the war’s onset, Rural Senses began leveraging their innovative AI-driven technology, scanning public social media platforms. They filtered and analyzed relevant posts, extracting vital information about affected communities—details such as location, age, and the challenges they faced—ultimately aiding in targeted response efforts. Simultaneously, together with several volunteers who joined the project, Rural Senses designed a complete dashboard for the MoW, with data highlighting locations, stakeholders, key words, and more.

One of the biggest challenges during this time is the constant changing and shifting of needs from one thing to the next, and the difficulty of organizations to stay in the loop with what is needed and what is not. Maayan Rooks (pictured on the right), Senior Project Manager at Rural Senses shared, “We saw people who at first needed somewhere to evacuate to, and once they were evacuated, a new need emerged of not having enough clothes or not being able to bring their pet to their temporary housing. The needs came one after the other, sometimes one because of the other, and we were able to help the MoW to stay informed as these needs changed, allowing them to allocate resources with the data’s guidance”. This aspect of the project was notably distinctive, given that RuraSenses typically assesses changes over extended time frames. In this instance, where the war affected multiple areas of the country in various ways, Rural Senses observed a rapid and drastic shift in the population's needs. The ability of Rural Senses's technology to facilitate the MoW's real-time response to collective community needs truly marked it as a game-changer.

In the first five weeks after Rural Senses launched their project with the MoW, they reviewed over 100,000 posts, extracting critical information from close to 15,000 of them. Within this emergency response period, they categorized and identified the most frequent needs into the following five categories:

• Shelter, including for those with damaged houses from the October 7 attack, those in communities on the northern and southern borders with mandatory evacuation orders, those close to but not falling within the required evacuation areas, families wanting to be near hospitals where loved ones are being treated, etc.

• Animal care, including help for organizations based in evacuated areas near southern/northern borders, lost pets from the October 7 attack on southern Israel, care for pets whose owners left Israel as a result of the war, care for pets who were unable to be evacuated with their families, etc.

• Availability of goods & equipment, namely for evacuated individuals (clothes, food, electronics, sanitary supplies) and for the military, due to the unprecedented number of reservists being called to duty in a period of 24 hours (a mix between protective gear, food supplies, and accommodations for sleeping and sanitation). 

• Employment opportunities, both those searching for work and those seeking workers, particularly in the agricultural sector which was affected by foreign workers leaving Israel, and others from the Palestinian territories prohibited from entering under security protocol. 

• Home maintenance, including safe-room improvements, repairs from damage created by the war, power outages, etc. 

These categories encapsulate the communal needs most frequently shared on social media. For the MoW, this information was important in directing their response efforts, but what was even more critical was the continuous change in the urgency of needs over time. Looking at this graph below, the change of needs can be seen in every case of the top 5 needs, comparing the frequency from week 2 (October 15) to week 7 of the crisis. 

Other needs identified by Rural Senses that were less frequent but still prevalent included mental health support, education, elderly care, disability support, and religious practices. Some of these needs also fluctuated between week 2-7, as pictured in the above graph. 

Insights and conclusions

After identifying and extracting these needs from social media platforms, Rural Senses began their analysis in an effort to help the MoW become more aware of the changing needs, and therefore help them allocate resources accordingly. Below are excerpts of different analyses conducted by Rural Senses, showing trends and changing frequency of needs falling into several of the aforementioned categories, specifically between week 2 to week 7 of the war. 

To date, Rural Senses has scanned close to 120,000 social media posts, abstracting critical information from close to 20,000 of them. As the war continues months later, they will continue to provide Israel’s MoW with updates, insights, and analyses using their AI-driven tools. In the face of unprecedented adversity, Rural Senses emerged as a beacon of innovation and support during Israel's challenging times. Their collaboration with the Ministry of Welfare showcased the power of technology in real-time needs assessment, providing a dynamic response to the evolving crisis. As the needs of the affected communities shifted rapidly, Rural Senses' AI-driven tools became instrumental in helping the MoW stay informed and allocate resources efficiently. Through their dedication and adaptability, Rural Senses played a pivotal role in bringing accurate relief to those affected and exemplified the resilience of collective efforts in times of adversity.

Rural Senses is an alumni startup of Pears Challenge IV, the flagship program of Pears Program for Global Innovation. Rural Senses is an end-2-end needs assessment and impact monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) solution for organisations working with vulnerable communities. They have offices in Kampala, Uganda, Nairobi Kenya, Tel-Aviv, Israel and Oxford, UK; and operations in Sub-Saharan Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria), East Asia (India, Nepal and Bangladesh), East Europe (Romania), the Middle East (Israel) and Latin America (Ecuador).

Applications for Pears Challenge: Validate are now open! Apply today.

We were pleased to sit down with Dr. Ira Ryk-Lakhman, COO of Fuse.io, to discuss the innovative, inclusive, and accessible technological infrastructure they offer to small businesses globally to bypass bureaucracies and fees associated with traditional finance.

What is Fuse.io?

Fuse.io was launched in 2019 with the aim of offering businesses and developers an end-to-end technical solution that enables alternative payment methods on their applications (Web3 Payments). Our biggest value proposition is that we offer small businesses, often burdened by fees associated with credit cards and not wanting to use cash, a third payment alternative. By operating and using Fuse’s software development kit (SDK), businesses can offer smaller merchants with lesser

tech abilities an easy, seamless, payment solution at lower costs and high reliability. Additionally, we assist businesses with user retention and engagement by creating an easy and cheap payment solution that online and real-world merchants can easily adopt for free, while also building a customized loyalty club, offering their users rewards for their purchasesand maintaining user-engagement in between purchases. Notably, by adopting the Fuse infrastructure, businesses can appeal to new audiences seeking Web3 mobile solutions and payment methods. On top of this, the end-user also profits from this, leveraging fast, cheap, accurate and sophisticated mobile payments. Fuse currently has over 1.5 million accounts created, has facilitated over 128 million transactions, operates in 12 countries, and has a diverse team of some 30 people working globally and from the Tel Aviv HQ. Why does Fuse target emerging markets? In the 1970s, the large payment networks started creating the traditional railways for payment for the Western world, starting in North America, eventually making their way to Europe, and not quite arriving to less developed countries. For a long time, this meant extreme difficulties for developing countries, namely Africa and Asia, that were effectively excluded from the growing popularity of these, now traditional payment infrastructures. Fast forward to the 2000s and it's understood that this was actually a huge advantage - countries within Africa and Asia have been able to completely leapfrog over the traditional payment railways, making more room for innovative practices and coloring outside the lines. This is where we find such a strong business case; Fuse is made for countries that don’t follow the traditional payment railways designed for developed countries. Fuse is for businesses who seek to innovate and replace the back-end dating back to the 1970s with more innovative, secure, and cheaper payment methods. In addition, emerging economies are filled with small businesses contributing to and even powering the economies. Sub-Saharan Africa alone has 44 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and as previously mentioned, we put a lot of emphasis on reaching small businesses that would normally be affected by high fees from traditional payment mechanisms, or would struggle to expand due to other payment-related pain-points (such as, currency volatility, access to financial services, and more). One challenge we do encounter surrounds regulation. Africa is made up of 54 countries, all with different rules and regulations surrounding payments. And while it is years ahead of the fintech/blockchain development of Israel, we still see some vagueness with respect to regulatory approaches and therefore it is at times a bit complex to operate in. We have found that our best chance at mitigating this challenge is to partner with local regulated (licensed) companies who know and understand the local regulation better than we do. Regardless, we are providing the tech infrastructure and do not have access, nor will we ever, to the funds running on the platforms built on Fuse. How does Fuse improve the lives of people in emerging markets? We feel that our overall impact lies in Fuse’s ability to promote the growth and financial inclusion of small local businesses and economies. For example, we provide the tech infrastructure for ChromePay to offer its Digital IDs to unbanked populations in Africa, thereby developing local agriculture businesses. Looking at Ethiopia, ChromePay addresses the absence of a national ID system by connecting financial institutions with unbanked digital identity solution integrated with various financial services. Fuse Network granted funding to Chromepay to implement its decentralized identification (D-ID) solution on Fuse and integrate it into ChromePay and Fuse Smart Wallets. Chromepay uses Fuse Network to generate Digital IDs for its users and offers financial services linked to each D-ID through the Fuse Charge solution. Fuse enables ChromePay to offer services such as paying for micro-insurance and facilitates low-cost P2P transfers and remittances. As a result, small-scale farmers stand to gain an increase in accessibility of funds, receive financial education and a

wide range of financial services, adopt new business models, and increase workforce and productivity within rural regions. We are proud to say that because of this, over 3000 farmers th

o offer its Digital IDs to unbanked populations in Africa, thereby developing local agriculture businesses. Looking at Ethiopia, ChromePay addresses the absence of a national ID system by connecting financial institutions with unbanked digital identity solution integrated with various financial services. Fuse Network granted funding to Chromepay to implement its decentralized identification (D-ID) solution on Fuse and integrate it into ChromePay and Fuse Smart Wallets. Chromepay uses Fuse Network to generate Digital IDs for its users and offers financial services linked to each D-ID through the Fuse Charge solution. Fuse enables ChromePay to offer services such as paying for micro-insurance and facilitates low-cost P2P transfers and remittances. As a result, small-scale farmers stand to gain an increase in accessibility of funds, receive financial education and a wide range of financial services, adopt new business models, and increase workforce and productivity within rural regions. We are proud to say that because of this, over 3000 farmers that were previously excluded from the financial system are now included and able to benefit from their work.

What is your vision for Fuse? In the near future I hope to see Fuse working with many more small businesses in emerging markets, as I feel these are the places where we can make the most tangible impact. I look forward to seeing Fuse expand within Africa, taking on different projects to show our applicability to even more use cases. I additionally hope to see our company being promoted more within emerging markets, especially through more developers and marketing professionals working with us from within Africa. On another note, I look forward to pursuing other strategic projects, especially in Israel, as I believe development of our fintech ecosystem is necessary and will put us on the map as the startup ecosystem that we allege ourselves to be.

With our next Pears Challenge soon launching and focusing on improving digital financial inclusion in East Africa, we were lucky enough to sit down with Alon Eitan, the CEO of an Israeli-Ghanaian company doing just this. Fido is on a mission to empower individuals and entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities in Africa. Founded in 2016, they have built an automatic banking platform (based on machine learning models) with unique risk management models, which process hundreds of thousands of data points in real time with credit insights as well as estimating risks and identifying fraud. These enable immediate credit decisions to be made even if customers have no previous financial records or access to banks. The app is available country-wide to any smartphone holder, even in regions with no bank branches. In addition, “Fido Score” was introduced to empower customers to build and maintain a digital financial track record, allowing them to have a digital financial identity, and reap the benefits of being visible to the financial system. To date, they have provided services to over 600,000 customers throughout Africa, and distributed over $300 M worth of credit. What is Fido’s mission? Fido’s overall mission is to make financial services accessible to individuals and small businesses across Africa. We believe true economic growth begins with people wanting to maximize their potential and grow, and when financial services are out of reach for them, this is simply impossible. Fido was created to be completely accessible - no matter where you are or where you start from, you will have something to keep you going and growing. In the countries we work in, the banking systems are mostly complicated, slow, bureaucratic and inefficient meaning that few people have access to basic financial services like obtaining loans, savings and payments. We’re trying to build a new financial culture in Africa - not only improving accessibility to financial services, but also making them better - faster, simpler and transparent, and so on. Something we’re specifically passionate about is growing existing businesses that have been working on a smaller scale, and helping them take it to the next level. With that being said, we have no qualification period for businesses looking for loans, and are always looking for new and creative indicators and proxies to evaluate credit worthiness. What’s the division of responsibilities between the offices in Africa and Israel? Generally, the core R&D activities are located in our Israel office (as well as teams in Ukraine & Accra), and all the operational activities are located in Ghana and Uganda. Despite this, we are trying to shift away from the tech vs. operation separation between the countries, and increase the tech-capacity on the Africa side of things (particularly at Fido’s HQ in Ghana). There are so many aspiring and ambitious young developers that are full of motivation, but come with very little experience in building a product to scale, and we see this as an uplifting opportunity for them to learn from our Israeli developers and bring the tech component of Fido to the continent. In terms of the operations, each country is a standalone operation following the guidelines of a global playbook. We have a local team in both Uganda and Ghana, each with a country manager. One of our proudest success stories so far is the fact that one of our first employees ever (and first in Ghana at all) from 9 years ago, Sebastian Quansah, has worked his way up the ladder to be the Managing Director of Fido Ghana and Director of Customer Experience for the whole group. Why is Fido focused on Africa? First of all, there is a huge business opportunity/potential here to build a sustainable financial institution to serve a mass market which does not exist. Africa has the largest working age population that is only set to increase, a history of leap frogging, and a true desire for economic growth. Looking at microfinance, from where we stand, it seems this sector is still reliant on impact money which means it is not sustainable from a business perspective. The business we’ve built and continue to build is sustainable, and our overarching goal is to create something that will outlive us on its own merit. One of the biggest challenges we face is the loss of attention that comes after investors hear the word ‘Africa’. Africa in their eyes is about philanthropy, and we wish they would look beyond this and judge businesses by the merit and untapped opportunities in Africa. Besides the huge business opportunity, we find such purpose and meaning in the work we do everyday. From hearing success stories from local staff, or even from comments on our Facebook posts, the impact we are making in people and small businesses’ lives is tangible and makes every day at work worth it. What is the difference you feel that you’re making in the lives of your clients? Our customers come to us when they have a dream. Maybe that dream is to go to school, maybe it's to have a medical procedure, maybe it's to start or grow a business. We’re proud to say that most of these people get to fulfill this dream with the help of Fido. With the loans we provide, we’re able to take a photographer with old technology, lend him money for a new camera, and eventually see him today with multiple cameras and a whole staff working for him. We see people that are able to get malaria treatment, people with small stores in a village able to expand to six cities, and so on. But our impact doesn’t stop there, and we are very passionate about providing opportunities for growth for those working at Fido. It's in our DNA to provide opportunities for the masses, and we look forward to many years ahead of us of doing just that.

Today is World MSME Day!

What are Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises?

Whether they are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover or growth trajectory, there is no doubt that MSMEs serve as major drivers of socioeconomic development and prosperity in emerging markets.

• Most formal jobs are generated by MSMEs, which create 7 out of 10 jobs In emerging markets.

• In Kenya and Tanzania more than 95% of businesses are MSMEs that generate up to 50% of GDP.

In honor of this UN recognized day, we’re thrilled to officially announce Pears Challenge VI, focusing on Digital Financial Inclusion in East Africa.

MSMEs are the backbone of East African economies, and this year’s Pears Challenge will seek to support Israeli entrepreneurs in producing financial inclusion enhancing FinTech solutions tailored for MSMEs needs.

Addressing MSMEs' unique challenges and improving their access to finance has the power to generate cumulative economic growth and impact individuals and supply chains. Here are a few examples of the need and opportunity:

• 41% of SMEs in LDCs report access to finance as a major constraint to their growth and development, by comparison to 30% in middle-income countries (MICs) and only 15% in high-income countries (HICs).

• Africa presents a huge opportunity for FinTech by accounting for up to 70% of the global mobile money transactions' value

• McKinsey estimates that Africa’s financial-services market could reach $230 B in revenues by 2025 whereas Fintechs in Kenya alone could generate $30 B.

If you are an entrepreneur looking to address global financial inclusion challenges and produce solutions for MSMEs in East Africa, we invite you to pre-register today here: https://www.pearsprogram.com/pears-challenge.

We were thrilled to start off 2023 speaking with Ariella Charny, COO and Co-Founder of Albo Climate. Albo is an Israeli startup tackling climate change by making carbon removal scalable.

How and why was Albo Climate created? Albo was co-founded by Jacques Amselem, Marco Calderón-Loor and me in 2020 out of a critical need to accelerate and scale up nature based climate solutions using AI technology and remote sensing data. We began this journey by identifying a major bottleneck related to carbon sequestration (removal) in nature-based solutions in diverse natural and agricultural ecosystems around the world. The monitoring of CO2 removal is one the biggest challenges in the nature-based (NBS) solutions market, currently largely lacking the technological capabilities to accurately quantify CO2 sequestration at scale. In most cases, measurements are conducted on the ground using hardware and inefficient tools such as manual soil samples. As a result, nature-based projects often face high costs and poor transparency with buyers. The lack of scalable and reliable solutions for assessing nature based projects results in a lack of confidence and slog in new projects, especially those in agriculture, peatland restoration and blue carbon systems. To solve this obstacle, Albo Climate has developed next-generation technology that automatically measures, monitors, and maps carbon sequestration, offering a cost-effective solution with an unprecedented degree of transparency and accuracy. Today, Albo is a team of 13 dedicated individuals, providing carbon monitoring solutions for 9 customers in 5 continents in the forestry and agricultural sectors.

Tell us about your technology. Combining geospatial monitoring and AI expertise, Albo Climate's innovative solution provides customers with high resolution maps displaying carbon data on a per-pixel level. Regardless of the location of the project, we can quantify carbon dynamics without physically needing to be on the ground. Our monitoring solutions help customers to seamlessly quantify carbon stocks in soil and biomass and translate them to carbon credits. Our remote sensing system will help scale nature-based projects, which are proven to play a critical role in mitigating climate change, to the next level. Current uses of Albo Climate’s carbon mapping technology can be seen in monitoring carbon changes within the USA, Canada, Ecuador, Peru, Zambia, and other regions. Our aim is to provide carbon and biodiversity data and insights, and thus support long-term projects that aid the global fight against climate change. With our partners and clients, we aim to help remove or avoid the emission of over 500 tons of CO2 by 2025. Why is Albo interested in working in Sub Saharan Africa? There are several reasons why we’ve identified SSA as one of our target markets. The first is the obvious yet unfortunate truth that too few players are focusing on the carbon potential of emerging markets, which consists of lands that are huge carbon sinks - meaning they absorb more carbon than they emit. With our remote-sensing technology, we can measure this data from afar, allowing land owners to participate in the carbon market, be incentivized to be good stewards of their land, and be compensated as such. We are thrilled to share that we’ve recently signed a contract with a major corporation to develop remote sensing models that predict carbon stocks in nut tree planting projects run by small-holder farmers in Zambia. More generally, we work with companies aggregating farmers (in a B2B or B2B2C model), and hope to enable further democratization of and access to the carbon market. What is Albo’s long term goal and vision? In alignment with the work we’ve been doing over the past three years, our goal is to enable billions of smallholder farmers and landowners to participate and have trust in the carbon market. We aim to scale up our product and make it accessible to good stewards around the world, in diverse ecosystems and bio-climatic zones. We look forward to building strong partnerships with agri- and forestry businesses, as well as with data and cloud companies, to continue growing and developing our product.

Looking Back at 2022: Why I'm Optimistic and Why I'm Still Concerned A note from Hagit Freud, Managing Director of Pears Program for Global Innovation

As 2022 comes to an end, it’s hard for me to reflect on this year without mixing personal moments, organizational achievements, our industry trends, and global events. With this mix, there are definitely mixed feelings, a bitter-sweet taste where the sweet is very sweet and the bitter is very bitter. Looking back and looking ahead, I’m not sure if I’m more optimistic or more concerned. Global events keep many of us awake at night, and 2022 was definitely not the year we were hoping for, with the continued COVID-19 pandemic and its concerning implications, especially for the most vulnerable; the war in Ukraine and continued conflicts worldwide which lost their spotlight; extreme weather events; and the unfolding economic crisis. One might say that the need for innovative solutions has never been more important than right now. But it was the case even without these events and will continue to be in the years to come. I’ve also been awake at night a lot this year because 2022 is the year I became a mother and my concerns and hopes for the future gained a different perspective. Growing inequalities, injustice, and climate change became ever more concerning. But there is also some room for optimism and trends that generate hope. Digital inclusion — the trajectory of mobile and internet penetration, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) is growing, and although COVID-19 caused many setbacks, access to mobile and internet continued to increase. While fully closing the digital gap and getting to this last mile is still quite challenging and will require a lot of effort, it is encouraging to see how digital tools are making our world smaller and far more connected. Digital inclusion not only affects our daily work and the opportunity to work remotely, but it also strengthens partnerships and creates dialogs. It's also about diversifying and democratizing the content we consume, the cultures and opportunities we are all exposed to, and it can break down barriers and change stereotypes and mindsets. And so, I’m optimistic as digital access is access to so much more. Global food systems and regenerative agriculture — 2022 will hopefully be remembered as the year the food system discourse was prioritized globally, following the first global food system summit at the end of 2021, which brought a lot of attention and commitment to the sector. Food systems were further enhanced and tied to the global climate discourse at COP27. One particular trend our team had been extremely enthusiastic about is the growing focus on regenerative agriculture. There are many reasons to be excited about the potential of regenerative practices which are beneficial not only to human consumers but also to the environment at large. One reason we are thrilled about this vision for the agriculture sector is that it positions smallholder and traditional farming across the global south as a solution rather than a problem, and affords small-holder farmers (which are the majority of farmers) a real opportunity to leapfrog into better agriculture practices. And while technology alone is never the answer, we are curious and excited by the role technology will have in advancing regenerative practices. The African Innovation ecosystem continues to grow — while here in Israel the global economic crisis is leading to massive layoffs and a decrease in investment in the high-tech sector, it seems the African Innovation ecosystem is booming and continues to grow. We know that even with the growth we are seeing now, this is only a fraction of the potential and there is so much more that is going to evolve in the coming years (check out – Africa: the Big Deal). For the Pears Program for Global Innovation, it’s been a year of growth and great achievements. We worked with wonderful partners and created meaningful and fruitful collaborations, we deepened our methodologies and strengthened our approach to supporting innovation for development challenges, and supported wonderful companies, technologies, and the people behind them in their journey towards meaningful contributions to address development challenges. At the beginning of 2022, we launched the fifth edition of our flagship venture builder — the Pears Challenge — with a focus on resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems in Ghana. As the year comes to an end, this year’s challenge has produced five new ventures who are off on their journey, endorsed by partners and with promising technologies we hope to see deployed in the field and creating a positive impact in the coming years. It's also been a year of growth for many of our Pears Challenge alumni and many other wonderful startups we support here in Israel. And while it’s been a catalytic year for the climate and impact discourse here in Israel, with growing interest and investment to those fields and highlights such as PlanetTech World, we are still very far from where we as an ecosystem and as a country should be with regards to international development and delivering on our promise that we are a global outward looking innovation ecosystem. We work with many dedicated, idealistic, and committed partners on this front, and as we look ahead to 2023, we hope to see our field grow and evolve in the year ahead. As part of my work, I love to consult with colleagues and counterparts about how we can improve and what more we can do to advance our vision and achieve our mission. With the recent release of ChatGPT, I decided I might want to see what artificial intelligence (AI) has to say and had a long wordy discussion on the platform about our work and how can we improve it. While I have to admit I was surprised and intrigued by some of the answers, it made me confident that AI is not (maybe yet) ready to replace us humans in the field. (If you are reading this and have some thoughts to share on our work, I’d be happy to discuss it, I’m sure it will be more enlightening). We in the Pears Program for Global Innovation remain committed to building more bridges between the Israeli innovation ecosystem and the international development field and to communities in LMICs, we remain committed to our values, and to fulfilling the potential that further exposure, exchange, and collaborations can achieve. On a personal note, I’m grateful for the team of talented, dedicated, and inspiring individuals I get to work with. I’m grateful for our many partners, in Israel and abroad, and for the possibility to join hands, share causes and achieve more together. I’m grateful for our bright community of DevTech entrepreneurs and startups. I’m often blown away by your creativity and capabilities - let’s continue, there is still much more you can achieve, and we are here to support you. And I’m immensely grateful for our supporters and primarily the Pears Foundation, for allowing us to keep on doing what we love to do. All of you make me look forward to what 2023 will bring and keep me optimistic that we will do good, and it will be good and better. And so, with major concerns and cautious optimism, I wish you all a happy new year.

What is Agri-Light’s story? In March of 2020, I was sitting in my office in Har Hotzvim, Jerusalem’s Hi-Tech Park, as the Corona virus was hitting countries and their populations all over the world. It was a bad time for business; and, of course, a sad time for humanity as more and more people became sick. During this difficult time, I was letting my mind work and wander contemplating my next technology and business steps. At this exact juncture, a large Italian energy company sent out a communication about a subject I knew nothing about---“Agrivoltaics”—the dual sharing of land for both energy generation via solar panels; and crop cultivation within the photovoltaic setting. I was intrigued about agrivoltaics, as a person passionate about agriculture and clean energy. I am a “gentleman farmer” living on a Moshav for the past 26 years. I spent about two months researching the subject and I decided to begin the process of establishing a company focused on bringing the most advanced agrivoltaic technology to the world. I was fortunate to recruit an experienced team led by experienced entrepreneurs and experts in the fields of renewable energy, data science, sustainability and environment, agronomy, economics, IoT, optimization and regulations. Tell us about your technology! Agri-Light has designed and developed its patent pending “Smart Agri-PV” (SAPV) System, which moves PV panels both horizontally and angularly to control plant sunlight and shading and optimize crop cultivation and electricity generation. The innovative technology is based on a unique mechanical engineering design and state-of-the art agronomic data analytics. The system employs IoT sensors to measure micro-environmental and environmental factors in real time, including sun radiation and position, temperature, humidity, pressure, rain, wind speed, and soil moisture. The data collected by the sensors is processed by an Artificial Intelligence-based cloud platform which also incorporates database information on the optimal environmental conditions for each crop type. Innovative algorithms generate information about electricity generation and give instructions to a software-based controller which moves the PV panels to maintain the micro-environmental factors in their optimal values. SAPV will also be used to activate and optimize irrigation in the most water efficient way possible. Agri-Light is developing a real time application that will provide both needed information to farmers and machine learning-based predictions that can help to optimize crop quality and production. The SAPV system is focused on fruit and nut tree crop production optimization and is suitable for all environments - including for arid/desert settings. By optimizing production of electricity and agricultural output on the same land, our technologies reduce competition for land use, while maximizing total profits for both farmers and solar developers.

How did you first target emerging markets? From the beginning of Agri-Light’s journey it was clear that our aim was to build a sustainable and profitable company, but at the same time, an enterprise that would make a significant impact in promoting food, water, and energy security. We therefore knew that emerging markets would be an important focus of ours. As a young company we first established a working demonstration site for our Smart Agri-PV funded by the Ministry of Energy. From there we won a tender to establish 12 commercial pilots of approximately 10 dunam each to be established on a range of different fruit and nut orchards spanning from the arid environment of the Arava to Israel’s northern Mediterranean borders. However, from almost the beginning of Agri-Light, we have been in contact with interested parties in Africa, including established representatives in Kenya who have become loyal partners for us. We are now in negotiation to establish our SAPV system on a 13.5-hectare site 60 Kilometers outside of Nairobi. Agri-Light also received an additional grant from the Ministry of Energy to initiate a pilot around a Bedouin village in the Negev. Our goal is to establish partnerships throughout the Middle East and Africa, as these emerging markets can derive great benefit from Agri-Light’s agrivoltaic technology solutions. Why is your technology beneficial to developing countries? Farmers worldwide are struggling to make a living as climate change and economic factors make agriculture business challenging. This is most certainly the case in emerging markets such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Agri-Light’s innovative agrivoltaic solutions will allow farmers to both optimize their crop production, their management and efficiency of water, and to partake in the additional revenue that will come from generating electricity.

Agri-Light's business model for farmers in developing countries can be offered as a joint partnership: the farmer provides his land for the agrivoltaic installation and shares the profits of electricity generated and sales to the national grid; or the farmer can receive electricity for his own use at a discounted price (off-grid). Most importantly, Agri-Light's agrivoltaic system benefits farmers’ crop production and water management, positively affecting agriculture profitability.

Where do you see Agri-Light in the future? In the near future, Agri-Light hopes to establish its first projects in Kenya where we have invested much time into building appropriate relationships and contacts within the country. We hope in the coming years to bring market expansion to other areas of East Africa and other regions of this vast continent, as well. Additionally, I envision Agri-Light establishing “strategic” commercial pilot projects in high potential markets (such as Europe, USA, and Israel) as the agrivoltaic market continues to emerge. We aim for Agri-Light to become a technology and business leader in this space, setting us up a strong, sustainable foundation for further growth and profitability. Specifically for Africa, as well as Israel, is the vision to establish self-sustaining agri-energy communities that bring economic stability to them; and promote food, water, and energy security.

For our 2022 June Newsletter, we spotlighted Avishay Sternleib, VP Global Sales at N-Drip Gravity Micro Irrigation.

What is N-Drip's story? N-Drip was created to face some of today's greatest problems - climate change and the global water crisis. Eighty-five percent of the world’s irrigated fields utilize flood irrigation, an ancient, unsustainable method. Flood irrigation wastes water, suppresses crop yields, and leads to contamination of both groundwater and surface water. Flood is also responsible for a very high proportion of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. To counter this, N-Drip was founded by Prof. Uri Shani, former Israel Water Commissioner, with a vision to end flood irrigation globally and by that mitigate climate change hazards. N-Drip works to bring the world a precise, gravity-based irrigation revolution! Tell us about N-Drip's technology! N-Drip’s patented gravity-powered micro-irrigation solution allows farmers to easily and inexpensively convert their flood-irrigated fields into N-Drip irrigated ones. N-Drip irrigation requires no external energy source nor filtration, and runs only on ever-renewable, always available gravity. Simple to use and affordable, it’s the most energy-efficient irrigation technology. Our revolutionary system saves farmers up to 70 percent of the water needed to grow crops, produces yields as much as 45 percent greater, reduces carbon emissions, and largely eliminates water pollution from fertilizer runoff. We also offer the N-Drip Connect™ - a decision support system that generates actionable insights for growers, such as irrigation and fertilization recommendations, and monitoring of water stress and nitrogen levels. With this system, N-Drip’s team of professionals are able to provide growers with support based on real-time data. Why is your technology beneficial to small holder farmers/users in developing countries? N-Drip irrigation requires no external energy source nor filtration, and runs only on a component no one in this world lacks: gravity. The simplicity and affordability, along with low energy usage make this a fantastic tool for small holder farmers and individuals in developing countries to use. Additionally, N-Drip technology contributes to improving farmers' resilience to climate change. Many farmers in water-stressed areas will rely on rain to irrigate their crops, taking a risk with the changing climate. Because of the unpredictability, this will oftentimes leading to crop failure and loss of profits. By implementing N-Drip's simple solution, farmers have more flexibility, reliability, and a decreased risk of crop failure. It also allows farmers to use less water for their crops, so when droughts do come, they will be more resilient to any fluctuations in water supply. Plus, by converting to N-Drip, farmers can start seeing immediate benefits such as using less fertilizer (which is costly and contributes to GHG emissions). With greater yields, farmers also gain the opportunity to become more prosperous while reducing water consumption and reducing current GHG emissions by up to 50%. This is better for the farmer, and better for the environment Where do you see N-Drip in the future? In the past, water-saving alternatives were too expensive or complicated. Our mission is to lead the effort in solving the global water shortage, by providing the ultimate alternative to flood irrigation, giving farmers access to precise, cost-efficient, and sustainable solutions. We have chosen to lead a profound change in a 5,000-year-old industry, and implement the technology that will result in the end of flood irrigation, and we believe that N-Drip’s technology will be the dominant practice of irrigation. We hope to see many more irrigators shift to this technology in the future, and our job is to ensure we play a role in this transition. In doing so, we are providing a significant response to the climate crisis and helping farmers and irrigators use water effectively.

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.

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.