On a pineapple farm in Kenya, the leftover rinds and leaves that once rotted away are now turning into leather and packaging. Olivia Okinyi, the founder of Econasi Limited, has found a way to give agricultural waste a second life — and her business is just one of twelve from across Africa being celebrated this year by GoGettaz 2026.
GoGettaz is a prize that crowns the continent's most promising young agrifood entrepreneurs — the people building businesses that grow food, cut waste, and lift farmers' incomes. This year's twelve winners come from nine countries: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda. Together they are using artificial intelligence, solar power, circular farming, and even hydroponics to solve real problems for African farmers and consumers.
The numbers behind these businesses tell the story of their reach. Econasi works with 500 small-scale pineapple farmers, and its model can boost their incomes by close to 40 percent while keeping agricultural waste out of landfills. In Rwanda, another winner serves more than 5,000 customers and partners with 96 agricultural cooperatives, using a circular approach to improve soil fertility, livestock nutrition, and livelihoods. A solar-powered irrigation system piloted in Ethiopia cut water use by 48 percent and raised yields by 30 percent, using a private network and edge AI — a type of artificial intelligence that runs directly on the device. Another business has reached more than 25,000 users across 43 rural communities, enabling more than 15,000 households to generate electricity for lighting and mobile charging.
Across the twelve businesses, the impact stacks up quickly. They serve more than 10,000 customers a month, work with more than 15,200 farmers in their supply chains, and have helped more than 35,000 farmers across Senegal, Ghana, and Togo. One platform has reached 10,000 groups representing more than 301,000 people, helping them secure more than US$4 million in irrigation and agricultural technology. In Morocco, a pilot in Fez sold more than 1,720 surplus meals and donated over 450 more. Four winners earned special Impact Awards for delivering practical solutions, and six received Catalytic Awards to help them grow.
GoGettaz is about more than the money. Through Generation Africa, these entrepreneurs gain mentorship, networks, visibility, and chances to meet investors, policymakers, and other leaders. As one organizer put it, the prize exists to help promising young businesses grow into companies that can operate at scale — which takes capital, strong markets, and partnerships.
Africa's food systems are transforming, and this year's finalists show that the drive is coming from young people who are building real solutions around the realities of their own continent. The question now is how far they can go.