AyuTe Africa AgriBusiness Entrepreneurship Programme – AYuTe Africa Challenge promotes agricultural innovation among youth, contributing to your country’s food security.
About the Challenge
The challenge is an initiative of Heifer Kenya, which is working closely with E4Impact Foundation (E4I) to run the competition from June to December 2022.
E4Impact Foundation will employ its expertise in business acceleration to develop a strategic direction for youth, agriculture and technology in line with Heifer mission and approach.
Kenya’s agriculture industry is the backbone of its economy. However, young Kenyans, who represent more than half of the national labor force, remain almost entirely excluded from this significant industry.
This is due to challenges such as negative perceptions of agriculture, lack of awareness of agribusiness value chains and limited opportunities offered by new technologies and innovative business models.
Young people have the potential to significantly reduce poverty and establish Kenya as one of the key players in agricultural markets. AYuTe Africa Challenge Kenya will support the agricultural innovation needed to make this happen.
AYuTe Challenge Benefits
Enterprises can expect to receive the following:
- Customized training boot camps at the various levels of the challenge
- Technical assistance at the various levels of the challenge to strengthen the minimum viable product and the business and financial model of the start-up
- Coaching and mentorship, personalized to unpack training into business implementation
- Links to financial and investment opportunities
- Networking opportunities to showcase your solution and meet with investors and other stakeholders
- Cash prize awards of a total of KSh. 1,750,000.00 for the top three winners:
- Winner: KSh 1M
- First Runner-Up KSh 500,000
- Second Runner-Up: KSh 250,000
- Customized three-month incubation program for top 15 finalists.
Eligibility Criteria
- Early-stage start-up (fewer than three years old)
- Established or already registered in Kenya
- Provides an innovative agri-tech solution that responds to the needs of the agri-value chain at various levels (e.g., production, aggregation, post-harvest losses, value addition, marketplace, financing, etc.) and has a strong potential to scale
- Has a focus on impacting the lives of smallholder farmers
Priority will be given to start-ups with a minimum viable product and no prior experience in an enterprise support program (incubation or acceleration programs etc.).
Key Timeline
The 1st stage of the challenge will run between July to mid-August 2022 to identify the top 80 Agri-tech innovators. The 2nd stage will be in August 2022 to identify the top 30 Agri-tech innovators. The 3rd stage from August to September 2022 will help to identify the top 15 Agri-tech innovators. The top 3 enterprises will be awarded cash prizes at an awards ceremony.
How to Apply
The call for applications is open until 14 July 2022.
If you are interested, click here to apply – https://bit.ly/AYuTeKechallenge
