Youth Agripreneur AgriPitch Competition For Youth-led African Businesses

The African Development Bank is calling for application from Youth-led businesses for the Youth Agripreneur AgriPitch Competition. This is a program that aims to connect expansion-ready, youth-led African businesses with global investors.

So, if you fit into this category, apply immediately.

See Also: The Aggregator 2020 – International Start-Up Vs Matchmaking Competition

About Youth Agripreneur AgriPitch Competition

The African Development Bank’s Youth Agripreneur AgriPitch Competition and DealRoom connect expansion-ready, youth-led African businesses with global investors (debt, equity, and/or grant). The DealRoom focuses on youth-led agribusinesses under the themes of nutrition and gender inclusivity. The goal of the AgriPitch Competition and DealRoom is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture among youth in Africa and to generate jobs, create wealth, and improve livelihoods through inclusive growth across the continent.

As an African company that meets the criteria, you are encouraged to submit your deal information for review by the Bank’s and Asoko Insight’s data teams. Qualified businesses will be promoted through the Asoko portal to global investors for matching. Interested investors can match with any deal by registering their profile and selecting target deals.

See Also: Manufacturing Business Ideas You Can Start On A Small Scale

Evaluation Criteria

To apply, you should consider these criteria carefully as they build out your profile for submission.
Value Proposition and Innovation Rationale (30% weighting):

1. How creative is your idea or how creatively the idea solves a problem related to ICT and agri-digitization?
2. Gender responsiveness
3. Addresses nutrition
4. Job creation potential
5. Competitive edge

Sustainability and Scalability (20% weighting):

1. Sound environmental management systems
2. Potential for scaling-up
3. Sufficient and qualified staff, including management

Business Feasibility & Traction (30% weighting):

1. Clear customer pain/need intensity and market size
2. Commercial and technically feasible with strong profit margins
3. Existing traction and customers (for matured start-ups)

Professionalism and Presentation of Business (5% weighting):

1. Structure and presentation of the business model
2. Ease of comprehension of the business
3. Strong writing/presentation skills

Investment Appeal (15% weighting):

1. Investment pull based on respective early start-up, matured start-up, and all-star stage

See Also: Enterprise Singapore Energy Open Innovation Challenge For Startups And SMEs

Youth Agripreneur AgriPitch Competition Eligibility Criteria

This is suitable for;

Companies that are in one of the following categories: Youth with early-stage Start-ups, Mature Start-ups, and Women Empowered Businesses as per the African Development Bank criteria. If you fall in, you are eligible to apply for the AgriPitch Competition and Virtual Investor DealRoom

1. The sector of focus: Agribusiness
2. The company meets the criteria for a category;
   • Start-ups: Your Start-up must have a clearly defined prototype or proof of concept and may or may not have had any products introduced to the market.
   • Matured Start-ups: firms with existing market traction: technology, product, service, etc., already on the market with a clear investment ask and growth plan & strategy.
   • Women Empowered Businesses: In addition to the criteria for a mature start-up, your firm must have at least a 51% share of women ownership or founded by a woman.

See Also: Itanna Accelerator Programme 2020 For Early-Stage Tech-Enabled Startup

How It Works

What you need to do to join include;

1. Press “Submit Interest” and supply as much detail as you can.
2. Then, Asoko Insight will contact you to verify certain information. It may confirm everything is set or where you may be able to improve your expression of interest.
3. Then, you will be informed when your deal is published on the platform and under consideration by investors and African Development Bank.
4. Asoko or African Development Bank may then be in touch following your match with an investor or shortlisting for the AgriPitch Competition

Generally, shortlisted businesses will participate in a virtual AgriPitch Competition from November 16-20, 2020. Here, winners will be chosen based on different categories under consideration. Then, the African Development Bank will award shortlisted businesses between US$10,000 and US$40,000 in the form of grant capital (US$120,000 in total is committed).

See Also: Bridge For Billions The Leap Program – Online Incubation Program For Entrepreneurs

The deadline for application for the Youth Agripreneur Agripitch Competition is October 15, 2020. So if you find interest in this program, and meet the criteria, apply using this link; https://asokoinsight.com/deals/platforms/afdb-ayaf-agripreneur

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