Maiden African youth agribusiness forum holds in IITA

Young people from all over Africa have converged in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to take part in the first-ever African Youth Agripreneurs (AYA) forum starting tomorrow 25th and ending on26th April. The forum will provide an opportunity for about 200 young people from across Africa to showcase their skills, creativity and innovativeness in agribusiness while networking, development partners and stakeholders in attendance.
 
Poster of African Youth Agripreneurs Forum

 
The forum, hosted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) at its headquarters, is organized by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with IITA, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), Africa Agribusiness Incubation Network (AAIN) and Africa 2.0.

Participants are mainly young people who are active in agribusiness or related value chains, promoting their own innovation for increased production and marketing. They can also be young people who are currently members of a youth network or association, possess skills to share and disseminate agribusiness information and knowledge, and also have the potential of being a youth mentor and/or incubate through incubation activities.

“IITA will support initiatives that would ensure that the young people in this continent contribute to the transformation of African agriculture through agribusiness and value chain development,” says IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga.

“The AYA Forum will become a flagship element of AfDB’s key initiative for youth employment in agriculture, the ENABLE Youth Program –Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment,” comments Chiji Ojukwu, AfDB’s Agriculture and Agro-Industry Director.

The forum comprises a 2-day conference/workshop with thematic discussions and presentations of success stories, an AgriPitch Entrepreneurship Competition and side events including a mentor and incubator training program that will give Agripreneurs an opportunity to demonstrate and showcase the success and business potential of agribusinesses across Africa.

During the agriPitch entrepreneurship competition, participants between the ages of 18 and 35 will pitch their innovations before their peers after which prizes will be awarded to three categories of winners. The selected winners will be invited to AfDB’s annual meetings in India in May 2017 to present their pitches. The overall winner will be presented with a prize by AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina.

During the forum, the agripreneurs are expected to develop and pitch ideas on innovations in agriculture which could cover information and communication technology (ICT), production, harvesting and processing, marketing, logistics, research, and financial services, among many other topics.

Also during the workshop, there will be plenary presentations by the youth and to the youth, to showcase how they designed solutions addressing the typical challenges facing young people who have ventured into agribusiness.


The forum will give agripreneurs across Africa an opportunity to interact and connect with business and development organizations that could assist in linkages with potential markets as off-takers within and outside Africa.

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