Technology
Meet the Red Bull Basement winner who aims to revolutionise farming
Aldrin Sojourner Gamayon’s idea beat out over 110,000 others in 2024’s innovation contest, with an app designed to identify crop threats and double harvest yields.
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It’s not every day that a startup pitch brings tears to the eyes of its audience. But when Aldrin ‘Soj’ Sojourner Gamayon’s name was announced as the winner of the 2024 Red Bull Basement World Final in Tokyo, more than a few of his fellow innovators, expert mentors and even the global judges were fist-pumping and blinking hard.
Making the journey to Japan from his home in the Philippines, Gamayon arrived at the World Final with a big smile, a lucky stuffed animal mascot and a compelling idea. Inspired by interviewing 80 farmers – including his own uncle – who face numerous challenges in providing the country's staple food of rice, he conceived AgriConnect. It's an AI-powered app that can alert farmers to crop threats and help them manage risk.
"This is crazy! This means so much,” Gamayon said as he accepted his trophy. “I’m doing this for Filipino farmers. I’m doing this for my uncles, who have been working so hard to try to make ends meet. And I hope that this will have an impact not only in the Philippines but in the world.”
Gamayon’s journey started when he entered the competition, submitting his idea with the assistance of the Red Bull Basement Chatbot, which was powered with AI enabled by event partners Microsoft and AMD.
At the time, the Communications Technology Management student at Ateneo de Manila University had recently returned from an internship in Singapore. He explains, “Flying to another country to study is a privilege, and there’s a responsibility in me to give back. Piecing that together with my experiences and the things I feel strongly for led me to the farmers. It’s my mantra to build something greater than myself.”
AgriConnect topped over 3,600 entries around the Philippines. As the new national winner, Gamayon launched into the Red Bull Basement Development Phase, refining his idea with mentorship and resources before arriving in Tokyo for the World Final. During the three-day experience, participants soaked up expert workshops, keynote speeches and mentoring before showcasing their solutions in an Idea Gallery, where the Top 10 were chosen to present their final pitch to the global judging panel of Red Bull athlete and entrepreneur Molly Carlson, Ryan Sagare of AMD, Letizia Royo-Villanova of Plug and Play, educational creator and entrepreneur Jun Yuh and Microsoft for Startups head Hans Yang.
Judges Carlson, Sagare, Royo-Villanova, Yuh and Yang
© Suguru Saito/Red Bull Content Pool
The judges didn’t have it easy. During the application process, Red Bull Basement was flooded with more innovative startup ideas than ever before, more than 110,000 – and the 40 national winners were an exceptional crew. When it came to the Top 10 pitches, each innovator had only two minutes to make their case. Their presentations were compelling, from a tool to help prevent employee burnout (Czech Republic) to an AI-powered app that personalises athlete training (Germany), and from a game-changing sustainable battery (Italy) to an app connecting students with mentors (Ireland).
Molly Carlson talks with Team UMIT of Kazakhstan in the Idea Gallery
© Suguru Saito/Red Bull Content Pool
Gamayon shared, “In a competition, there’s that mindset of ‘You need to be better than the other teams’ – and then I come here, and I see these different ideas, these personal stories, their experiences… I really saw that purpose and drive and determination. I got inspired by the people around me, and it reminded me that it’s not really just about competing. It’s sharing moments and memories with people who are like-minded.”
Advice and inspiration from the World Final judges and mentors:
Next on Gamayon's agenda: After the high of celebrating with all the teams at the after-party, he's going directly home for something more down-to-earth – university exams. Then, he'll dive back into his dual goal of creating a positive impact for farmers and helping to strengthen the Philippine startup ecosystem.
“I’m really going to try to establish more partnerships in the Philippines. I think that’s very vital for the next steps for my startup,” he explained. “[Winning is] great, it’s amazing. But there’s a bigger responsibility ahead now. It’s becoming real. And I’m ready for it.”
Aiding his efforts: As the Red Bull Basement winner, Gamayon is looking forward to a three-week, all-expenses-paid trip to California, USA, for an immersive program offering resources, networking and mentorship with tech and venture capital leaders in the technology hub of Silicon Valley.
“I believe this is the first time that the Philippines has joined Red Bull Basement, and I really hope we have more representatives,” Gamayon said. Admitting that he himself had initially been intimidated at the thought of “going against the world,” his advice to anyone considering joining Red Bull Basement is not to hesitate:
“Fifty percent of the time, startups don’t have much progress because they overthink. Red Bull Basement enables innovations that [let you] learn from mistakes and grow. Coming into Red Bull Basement, I had so many different directions and ideas, but I put it out there, and it led me to where I am today. It only started because I actually did it.”
Find out more about Red Bull Basement and explore all the finalist team ideas at www.redbullbasement.com.
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