Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Nov. 28, 2017. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO.

CTech – New Israeli platform IMPROVATE recently held a first-of-its-kind “food security” conference, aiming to connect Israeli technology companies with African countries to tackle the challenge of feeding the continent’s rapidly growing population. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair opened the conference, which was attended by dozens of agricultural ministers from African nations.

“Food security is a huge challenge, and it was a challenge before Covid-19, which has just deepened that challenge,” said Blair at the event. “This is a huge opportunity to use technology to help lives, to improve lives, to save lives, to improve the quality of agriculture in Africa, to help Africa fulfill its potential as a major source of food, not just for Africans, but for the world. … This is something that is transformative, groundbreaking, and will change the world.”

In total, 10 leading Israeli companies presented solutions to the ministers pertaining to some of the challenges faced in specific nations. These included Netafim, a water supply and drip irrigation company; NextFerm, which offers food security through natural fermentation proteins; and Milkey, which helps increase dairy production.

The companies heard about the challenges faced by each nation from the agriculture ministers of five African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland).

“During periods of crisis, people tend to focus on the problem, on its causes, and on who is to blame,” said IMPROVATE founder and chair Irina Nevzlin. “But the important thing is to understand the source of the problem, and we believe in the need for a platform that enables leaders and companies to focus on the solutions to problems.”

She explained that the role of IMPROVATE was to act as the connection between governments and tech leaders who wish to find practical solutions to some of the problems faced by countries around the world. After the conference, IMPROVATE will follow up by connecting these officials with the relevant tech companies that took part.

IMPROVATE was founded earlier this month by Irina Nevzlin and Ronit Hochman to help make innovation and technology available around the world. It operates out of London and Tel Aviv and focuses its efforts on hosting international conferences, business delegations, and deals to help foster relationships between governments and tech companies.