Growing agribusiness entrepreneurs in East Africa

Project Report | Mar 3, 2021
Growing Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in Africa

By Anne Roulin | President

Blended learning Training – Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness
In November we organised the first VIRTUAL Training of Trainers for our partners which was a week-long session using Zoom with group work, team feedback and sharing of experiences. Many of our previous partners: Gulu University, Bishop’s Stuart University, Makerere University Business School, and the Youth Agri-Hub in Uganda, Laikipia University in Kenya and IGAD Sheikh Technical University of Sciences in Somaliland, took the opportunity to train additional staff. The new Universities that participated in the Training are the Jaramogo Oringa Odinga University of Science & Technology in Kenya, Bukalasa University in Uganda with the Marula Creative Consultancy, and Bukavu University in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Several cohorts of students have already started, despite the considerable challenges since many of the Universities are only partially open due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus the trainings are being conducted via a combination of virtual and in-person sessions. The students still have significant issues with access to computers and connectivity, but the Trainers are forging on with much passion and engagement.

On-line Training Course

We are currently planning a training series on “Business Readiness” in terms of business models, markets, bookkeeping, financial modelling and pitching for an extensive network of farmers in Southern Africa. This training would focus particularly on women and be a 10-part series via Zoom with presentations, testimonies, and interactive discussions. We believe this can be a model that can be replicated on a much wider scale and reach smallholder farmers to improve their business acumen. Discussions are also underway with Generation Africa-Go Gettaz to run again the complete on-line training course Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness (that was organised in 2020 for 350 young people from 32 African countries).

United Nations – Food Systems Summit (FSS)

Through our work we the FAO we have been involved in the work leading up to the UN Food Systems Summit to be held in September this year. In November we convened two webinar consultations on Strengthening SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises) for Resilient Food Systems. There were over 200 participants in these Consultations from 42 countries. Seven concrete action areas were defined, and work is underway with a group of international organisations and entrepreneurs. One of these actions was to co-convene a FSS Dialogue on Catalysing Finance for Young Food Entrepreneurs. This was already held on February 23^rd with strong participation and some clear pathways to address the crucial issue of financing agri-SMEs. A further FSS Dialogue focusing on Catalysing Finance for Women Food Entrepreneurs is planned for April 8^th.

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Nov 4, 2020
Growing agribusiness entrepreneurs across Africa

By Anne Roulin | President

Enhanced on-line Training Course

From July to September 2020 the Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness course was organised as completely virtual course working with entrepreneurs through the GoGettaz Generation Africa Agripreneur Prize 2020. Over 300 participants actively followed the course from over 32 African countries. To enhance engagement and exchange, weekly webinars were held, and a WhatsApp group created which proved to be extremely dynamic. The course closed at the end September and close to 80 business plans were submitted. They are currently being reviewed by experts and individual feedback will be given to each participant or team. It was a strong learning experience for us to organise the course virtually and yet provide individual support to the participants across all these countries. With this support the completion rate was five times higher than the average for an on-line course!

Blended learning Training

The new cohorts are starting in our partner Universities in the coming weeks. In mid-November we are organising a virtual Training of Trainer session with several new Universities in Uganda and Kenya and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (a new country for our activities),

Study on Agribusiness Incubation in Sub-Saharan Africa

The FAO and the African Union commissioned the Agripreneurship Alliance to conduct a comprehensive Study on Agribusiness Incubation. Before the lock-down, trips were made to South Africa, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nigeria to do 'deep dives' on incubators in those countries. From the desk research over 450 organisations were investigate and over 300 mapped for inclusion in a Directory - the first of its kind. As physical workshops are not possible, the African Union and the FAO decided to organise a series of webinars 3 sub-regional webinars covered Southern, East, West & Central Africa and included a total of over 600 participants and 20 panellists. The final webinar is on November 5 and will be cross-regional. The panel includes the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and other key organisations. The aim of these webinars is to share the findings thus far and get feedback and validation from stakeholders. The webinars also aim to draft the way forward for a proposed programme to build the network and strengthen the agribusiness incubation and acceleration across the different regions in in Africa. The FAO is very pleased with the work so far and has asked us to extend the Study to North Africa in 2021.

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Jul 6, 2020
News from the Agribusiness Alliance

By Anne Roulin | President - Agripreneurship Alliance

Happy prize winners @ Bishop's Stuart University

Despite all the turmoil created by COVID-19, 133 students completed the Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness training and already submitted 47 business plans. We are still expecting a few more to come. The Plans are all reviewed by Experts and individual feedback given to each Team. Some of the students managed to start their businesses even with the lock-down. Others who already had small businesses applied all the learnings from the Training and adapted their products according to customer needs. For example, Hillary's business was already selling after-shave products based on lemon and aloe vera but he rapidly turned around and started producing hand sanitisers, disinfectants etc. The prize money awarded by the Agripreneurship Alliance allowed Hillary to buy stocks of raw materials and packaging to keep up with the demand for his new products.

The Training of Trainers week-long session which was planned for the end of April in Kampala, Uganda, obviously could not take place. Instead we organised a series of virtual sessions for our current Trainers to share their experience from teaching the last cohorts of students; to propose improvements and to allow us to spend time on areas of the training where the students struggle (like the financial aspects). There was also the opportunity to share experience about coping with the COVID crisis. The sessions were very lively and much appreciated. We have planned a session in mid-November for new Trainers from Universities in Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We hope to travel to do this in person, otherwise it will be organised virtually - Zoom sessions have rapidly become a daily occupation!

We have partnered with Generation Africa (in the context of the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition) to offer the Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Training as a completely on-line course. It starts on July 8th and will run for 2 months. As we know that doing on-line courses alone is very challenging, we are holding a weekly webinar on each module with guest speakers, testimonies from young agripreneurs and opportunities for exchange and Q&A. At the end of the Course, each business plan will be reviewed, and individual feedback will be given. So far close to 200 participants have registered.

Thank you so much for your support to the Agripreneurship Alliance. Every penny is used wisely and, as you can see from the news above, we are forging on in spite of the pandemic!

Keep safe and healthy!

Links:

Hillary explaining his new business during the COVID crisis

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