SWFF Program & Innovator News
Sept. 5, 2018
SWFF Support Helps Create Marketing Mindset & Better Product


MimosaTEK has a brilliant and elegant way to help farmers in Vietnam earn more while using less water. They've engineered a system of sensors to monitor everything about a crop - the amount of sunlight, the wind speed, the moisture levels of the soil - and built a phone app that provides recommendations to farmers based on the sensors' readings. This system is precise, and can cut labor costs for farmers while decreasing the amount of water wasted. But shockingly, the MimosaTEK team realized several months ago they weren't hitting their sales targets. Farmers weren't buying their amazing system as expected.

In this article, MimosaTEK shares the lessons they've learned through market analysis, and how that research is helping them reach more farmers throughout Vietnam.
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  • SWFF Delegation at Stockholm World Water Week. A SWFF delegation of 70+ comprised of founding partners, innovators, the TA Facility team, and others in the SWFF ecosystem attended Stockholm World Water Week. In addition to having innovator and aQysta Co-Founder Pratap Thapa present in the event's opening plenary session, the SWFF program presented five years of results and lessons learned at the session Hype or Groundbreaking: Has Securing Water for Food Delivered?
  • SWFF Innovators Reduce Water Consumption by 11.4 Billion Liters. SWFF's 2018 Semi-Annual Report highlights successes in the last six months and opportunities for growth. The report details SWFF innovators' impact to date, major program achievements and challenges, and the solutions developed to address those challenges.
  • aQysta Expanding Market Reach and Visibility. Three new aQystademo sites were confirmed in Malawi. In Colombia, three sites were confirmed and the company also displayed the Barsha pump in Expo Agrofuturo 2018 in Bogota. On July 16, aQysta Managing Director, Mr. Lennart Budelmann met the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, on his official visit to The Hague. Mr. Budelmann was one of 20 CEOs from Dutch companies who shared a roundtable discussion on the business opportunities in Nigeria. aQysta has also recently launched a new website and brand identity.
  • Naireeta Receives "Nourished India" Award. SWFF innovator Naireeta attended the "Nourish the Change" recognition ceremony for World Hunger Day, in partnership with United Nations Global Compact. They received an award acknowledging torchbearer organizations for the cause of Nourished India, Educated India. Organizers noted that: "We have been highly impressed by your work by the virtue of Bhungroo's initiatives for food security. You have been fighting for the cause ...and have displayed your can-do attitude to transform the society around you."
Opportunities
  • Powering Agriculture Webinar: How to Keep a High Impact Team. On Wednesday, September 12th at 8:30 a.m. US EDT / 3:30 p.m. EAT, this webinar will discuss how to maximize your return on investment by minimizing turnover and keeping your employees happy and high-performing. Topics include how to maintain, cultivate, and retain employees. It will also cover culture and diversity, including retention of women in your workforce. Register here .
  • 18 Entrepreneurs Share Their Thoughts on the Future of Women Entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs are on the rise. This is partly due to improvement in technology that has helped scale their online visibility and allow ease of collaboration. Each year more women leave the corporate world to start entrepreneurship, and programs and business coaches to support such women are emerging. Does this imply a bright future for women entrepreneurs? Read more here .
  • What Should You Send a VC Before Your Meeting? One of the hardest things to know when you're new to fundraising is what you're supposed to send to an investor and when. Mark Suster, managing partner at Upfront Ventures offers useful guidance on pitching here. 
1001 Words

Securing Water for Food delegation at 2018 Stockholm World Water Week. This photo was taken at Sida, following the annual innovator "Unconference."