Illuminum Greenhouses was chosen to represent Kenya at the 17th China Hi – Tech fair that took place from 16^th to 21^st November 2015.

The CHTF – China Hi-Tech Fair is an international trade fair for electronics and electrical engineering, which takes place once a year at the Convention & Exhibition Center Shenzhen. It focuses on advanced technologies and products in the fields of energy saving, environmental protection, production of high-end appliances, new energies and materials. The exhibition allows the promotion and economic exchange on an international level.

Through an invitation by the Kenyan government, we accompanied the Kenyan delegation to China where we exhibited our solar powered technology.

The system, is remotely controlled by the farmer through a simple text message from their mobile phone. This enables farmers focus on other income-generating activities rather than always having to be in being their farm.

In terms of networking, we managed to forge potential partnerships that will enable us move from prototype to mass production. This is very important because we are almost through with our prototype development.

Marketing was also an aspect at the expo. We managed to push our brand and product to other nations that are potential markets for expansion. Interestingly, only 2 African nations; Kenya and Mali, were present at the expo. This highlights the important position Kenya holds in the global agenda of ICT development. Being part of the team representing Kenya showed our potential markets of the credibility we hold back home.

Lastly we managed to learn new technologies that we have decided to incorporate into our innovation. One of them being; high power storing batteries, that will enable our system run longer on it without needing solar recharge. This we believe, will enable our system to be more resilient and durable in African farms which have no connection to the national electricity grid.

We would like to pass our sincere gratitude to the Kenyan government through its Ministry of ICT for this opportunity that will greatly help our startup scale up and be Africa’s leading agricultural technology provider.