The 2020 edition of the AfDB Agripitch competition for African agricultural entrepreneurs started on 2 November 2020. The competition exposes young entrepreneurs with a focus on agriculture, called Agripreneurs.
Participants will display start-up plans from their respective businesses in an effort to win seed funds up to a total of $ 120,000, as well as mentorship and training opportunities.
The prize money is shared by the different winners of each category. Two of the categories are classified according to the stage of the business, and one category contains early start-up, the other for the adult start-up phase. The third category is reserved for women-empowered businesses.
The Agripitch competition will be presented in two segments, including a series of webinars and a start-up camp for selected entrepreneurs. In the startup camp, the business owner will receive training on a number of key business stocks, including product development, marketing and financing.
Some entrepreneurs get the chance to direct their cases to judges in a dragon-den way. In addition, winners will be able to participate in the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum (AYAF) division, which gives them the opportunity to make contact with international investors.
This year the competition is being held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and runs under the theme: Managing sustainable nutrition and gender inclusion in Africa’s agvo food systems: youth farmers are seizing the decade.
Source: AfDB
Last year’s winners include horticultural exporter Goshen Farm founded by Alex Muli of Kenya in the adult start-up category.
In the early start-up category, the prize of $ 10,000 was awarded to South African Future Farms, managed by Paul Sheppard. Future Farms is an agrotechnical company focusing on hydroponic systems.
The awards are aimed at stimulating agribusiness in Africa with the aim of creating jobs and living standards for the youth on the continent.
Innovative ideas and the improvement of the way agriculture is done on the continent will greatly contribute to the promotion of efficiency to not only ensure that the content is fed, but also to give economic impetus. With more than half of the world’s arable land in Africa, there is certainly room to achieve much.