Baom Eco Solutions and Biological Agricultural Era (BioAge). These are the start-ups that will win the Green Pitch Challenge in 2023. This competition, which each year awards prizes for innovations in the green economy in Cape Town, is an initiative of the South African organisation Green Cape in partnership with the financial companies Invest Cape Town and Business Hub. It is also supported by the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
According to the promoters, the aim is to accelerate sustainable development and encourage job creation in the South African capital, which has a population of 4.8 million. BioAge’s organic fertiliser, Nitro-Gro, stood out from the other 209 applicants. “BioAge’s experience has been phenomenal and has created a pathway to expand our footprint across South Africa,” says CEO Reuben Riley.
Baom Eco Solutions, meanwhile, highlighted its “100% compostable biofilms” as an alternative to single-use plastics. A number of institutions, notably financial institutions, were represented on the jury. They included the Johannesburg-based impact company Edge Growth, the South African branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the American investment fund Untapped Global, the Green Outcomes Fund (GOF) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), among others.
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In 2022, Green Pitch Challenge winners received business development support worth 60,000 South African rand (approximately $4,000). In addition, the 2023 cohort will receive “a range of prizes sponsored by RMB Ventures, Google for Startups (a business incubator set up by Google in 2011), LaunchLab, Sarebi, AltGen and The Ethical Agency”, says GreenCape, which is preparing an edition of its initiative in Mpumangala province.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi