We have selected 24 impactful businesses through two UpLink challenges based on selection criteria including stage, commercial viability, scalability, sustainability and potential for impact.
Blendhub
Localizes food supply and processing systems by sourcing ingredients from vulnerable communities and helping food companies to develop and launch products quicker, tackle new markets, and compete in innovation without the need for investment in their infrastructure. See a video here.
Beyond Water is an innovative start-up social enterprise changing the way that people in rural Malawi access reliable, clean water. We have a growing network of village customers who receive regular maintenance visits and emergency breakdown repair of their water assets, all for one affordable cost. Our approach revolutionises sustainable water access, providing 95% functionality and ensuring health, prosperous customers.
change:WATER Labs (cWl) is a woman-led social venture founded in 2015 developing disruptive technologies to expand safe and dignified sanitation to the poor and vulnerable non-sewered household and communities. CWl’s 7-person team combines 30yrs of experience in sewage treatment, wastewater management, water systems engineering, cleantech innovation, hardware and military equipment development, venture finance, business strategy and international development.
Crop2Cash is a groundbreaking agri-fintech company revolutionizing Nigeria's agricultural sector. The company addresses the critical challenges faced by smallholder farmers: limited access to financial services and secure, profitable markets. Their innovative digital platform serves as a bridge, connecting farmers to essential resources and opportunities.
800 million people lack access to clean drinking water taking 4 million lives each year, of which approximately half are children. Drinkwell delivers clean drinking water on a permanent basis by blending locally-regenerable water filtration technology with a micro-franchise business model. Building off of 200 profitable deployments across India, Laos, and Cambodia through local partners, Drinkwell Systems deliver 60x more water, is 17x more energy efficient, and reduces waste by 7 orders of magnitude compared to Reverse Osmosis, the current best practice.
Fortune Credit Limited (FCL) was founded to bridge the gap between smallholder farmers and financial inclusion. Recognizing the challenges faced by rural populations in accessing financial support, FCL is dedicated to providing solutions that traditional financial institutions often overlook. FCL's innovative approach ensures that smallholder farmers and traders are not left behind, but rather are given the opportunity to access the financial support they need to improve their livelihoods.
Nampya Farmers Market is bridging gaps in food and market security through an organized digital platform for an efficient, fair, transparent, and formal agri-food marketplace. The platform is a marketplace that empowers rural smallholder farmers to help them become economically self-sufficient so they can provide fresh food to the urban dwellers, refugees and other vulnerable communities. The goal is to bring equilibrium between the population and Food Security, while envisioning a fair and profitable food system that's needed for everyone's future.
Oorja is a Farming-as-a-Service company working at the intersection between clean energy and sustainable agriculture. It acts as a multi-utility providing affordable solar-powered irrigation, milling and cooling services to smallholder farmers on a Pay-Per-Use (PPU) basis, in weak-grid areas of northern India.
Responsive Drip Irrigation’s patented water delivery solution, GrowStream™, is the world's first plant-responsive irrigation and fertigation system which reduces the overuse and waste of water from inefficient irrigation practices. Combining technology and organic chemistry, GrowStream™ is a "smart" subsurface irrigation tube that responds to chemical signals released by plants and delivers water and nutrients accordingly until the plants stop emitting these chemical signals. This enables individual plants to self-regulate their own water and nutrient delivery, resulting in unmatched plant performance.
Sanku is a pioneering nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to ending malnutrition in East Africa through innovative food fortification. Established in 2013, Sanku integrates cutting-edge technology, sustainable business practices, and strategic partnerships with small and medium-scale local mills to ensure that every meal consumed contains lifesaving nutrients.
TIBU Health was founded in 2018 by a small team of health and technology experts with one objective in mind: make it easier for people to obtain high quality healthcare services. TIBU Health adopts the latest, most advanced technologies in health and logistics to provide patients with a convenient and coordinated end-to-end healthcare experience that results in better health outcomes, healthier lives and with more time to spend on the things that matter to our patients.
Wingcopter´s vision is to create efficient and sustainable drone solutions to improve and save lives. Poor infrastructure and lack of transportation options continue to pose significant logistical challenges for the healthcare providers to provide timely medical care to rural and hard-to-reach communities. Wingcopter’s drone delivery solutions help overcome logistical challenges and offer new opportunities for hospitals, clinics, and laboratories to provide urgently needed medical aid.
Zuri Health is a virtual hospital providing quality affordable and accessible healthcare services to patients across Sub-saharan Africa via mobile app, website and SMS service. Through the app, patients can chat and consult with doctors, buy medication from a pharmacy, book labs and diagnostic tests and have a doctor visit them at home. With Zuri Health the underserved populace can now access affordable and sustainable healthcare.
Humanitarian and Resilience Investing
A World Economic Forum Initiative