Ethiopian Agritech Firm Lersha Wins Top Africa Award, Beating Nearly 600 Entries

The Ethiopian-founded agricultural technology company secured both the overall excellence award and the agribusiness prize at a continental competition organised by the Financial Times and the World Bank Group. Ethiopian agricultural technology company Lersha has won the top honour at the 2026 Africa Sustainable Futures Awards, jointly organised by the Financial Times and the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), emerging from a competition that attracted nearly 600 project entries across Africa.

The company, which connects smallholder farmers with agricultural financing, mechanisation services, inputs and markets, received the Judges’ Award for Excellence, the competition’s overall recognition, as well as the Agribusiness Award. The winners were announced on October 23, 2026, following an awards ceremony in London on October 22, held at the conclusion of the Financial Times Africa Summit.

Lersha, an integrated agricultural services platform developed by Ethiopia’s Green Agro Solution PLC, was recognised for its operations across Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The competition received just under 600 submissions covering energy, infrastructure, agribusiness and manufacturing, with 18 projects shortlisted across four principal categories.

Founded in 2018, Green Agro Solution operates Lersha as a digital and agent-supported agricultural marketplace, combining technology with physical service networks to connect smallholder farmers to financing, crop insurance, agricultural inputs, mechanisation and market opportunities.

The platform addresses several longstanding constraints affecting Ethiopia’s agricultural sector, particularly limited rural credit, fragmented input distribution, insufficient mechanisation and restricted access to reliable agricultural information. Lersha has attracted support from international development and technology organisations.

In November 2022, the company received a grant under the GSMA Innovation Fund to expand agricultural financial services and climate-risk insurance for smallholders. Its business model combines mobile applications, call centres and local agricultural agents, allowing farmers without smartphones or reliable internet connections to access services through intermediaries.

The company’s expansion beyond Ethiopia has also positioned it as a regional agricultural technology provider, with the awards identifying activities in Kenya and Uganda. Lersha was not the only award-winning initiative associated with Ethiopia. Zerobionic, whose activities span Kenya, Namibia, Ethiopia and Rwanda, won the competition’s Innovation Showcase category.

Other winners included CrossBoundary Energy in the Democratic Republic of Congo for access to energy, Nigeria’s Heirs Insurance Group for critical infrastructure and Kenya’s Roam Air for manufacturing. The awards, now in their third year, recognise private sector-led initiatives addressing development challenges through commercially viable approaches.

This year’s competition placed particular emphasis on job creation, operational performance and the development of resilient local economies. MIGA, the World Bank Group’s investment guarantee agency, provides political risk insurance, credit enhancement and trade finance guarantees to support investments in developing economies.

The agency reported that it has issued more than 100 billion US dollars in guarantees across over 120 emerging markets and developing countries since its establishment in 1988. For Ethiopia, Lersha’s recognition comes as agricultural finance and digital service delivery feature in the country’s efforts to expand financing for smallholder farmers.

Ethiopia’s National Agri-Finance Implementation Roadmap for 2025–2030 identifies agricultural financial technology platforms, including Lersha, as participants in efforts to overcome the physical and informational barriers that limit rural financial access. The London awards announcement did not disclose any cash prize, new investment commitment or financing agreement associated with Lersha’s recognition.