The Africa Development Bank (AFDB) in collaboration with the government of Cote d’lvoire organized the second edition of the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum (AYAF) and Agri-Pitch competition which held in Abidjan from the 9th to 13th April 2018 under the theme “Technologies and innovations for youths in Agribusiness”. It is known that the world’s largest population are youths under the age of 35 and majority of them do not have stable employment opportunities. However the agricultural sector was seen as an opening that could employ majority of the youth and as such enhance their economic growth. The challenges the youths encounter in trying to venture in this sector include; lack of access to land, finance, limited market, inadequate technologies, and practical skills among others.
The African Development Bank through its ENABLE youth program is trying to empowers youths as “Agripreneurs” by providing training along the agricultural value chain for example; business training and access to finance for youth-led agribusiness enterprises.
The AYAF (African Youth Agripreneur Forum) program which is under the Enable youth program called for proposals for innovative agribusiness ideas from youths all across Africa, and out of the 350 applicants, 36 were called to pitch their business ideas and among the successful applicants was Frotchery Farms Limited.
Frotchery Farms Limited through one of her representatives Mrs. Okeke C. Ngozi was present at the forum.
- Some of the resource persons at the boot camp and forum were;
- Prof. John Anyanwu Director African Development Institute
- Mrs Oley Dibba-Wadda Director Human Capital Youth and Skills Development
- Dr Martins Fregene Director Agriculture and Agroindustry
- Ms Leticia Browne Director Intelligence Capital Group
- Dr Chiji Ojukwu Former Director Agriculture and Agroindustry AFDB
- Mr Saah N’tow Former Minister of Youth Employment Liberia
- Mr Foster Ofosu AFDB
- Mr Michael Sudarkasa Africa Business Group
- Ms Pauline Myjawamariya Africa Innovation Foundation
- Ms Marie ENABLE Youth Sudan among others.
Some of the topics handled during the forum include;
- Innovative financing for young entrepreneurs
- Institutional support and mentorship for young Agripreneurs
- Supporting value creation in Agriculture and Agribusiness
- Mapping the ecosystem for your business ideas
- Innovative thinking tools
- Defining the needs, market, service and revenue
- Financing options
- Intellectual property rights
- Communication
- Writing business proposals and
- Pitching for success
The week for the forum in Cote d‘ivoire was declared “Youths Week for Employment and Civic Service” sponsored by the ministry of youths promotion, employment and civic service which witnessed some youths from Ivory Coast, youths invited by CTA, IITA Youth Agripreneurs and other private sectors. There were series of panel discussions and interactions with successful youths in Agribusiness in diverse value chains who shared their successes, failures and general experiences on how they were able to remain in business. In summary, it takes determination, hard work, focus and passion to achieve good success in Agribusiness.