Introduction
Emergination Africa takes pleasure in updating you of the activities that took place in the 2nd quarter of 2023. We mainly focussed on the Global Venture Accelerator program. Our Global Venture Accelerator is a program that helps young people develop the skills, tools, and connections they need to succeed in the global market. These are developed through training, mentoring, and provision of opportunities to create and launch their own products. It is a platform where learners accelerate their innovative ideas into operating ventures with the assistance of virtual advisement from global and local advisors. The teams go through four phases of the program namely Prepare, Pitch, Realize and Learn. This past quarter the teams were in their realize phase and have been undertaking advisement sessions held weekly over various online platforms to ensure continued engagement and knowledge, and skills transfer between advisors and venture teams. Through the program, venture teams are also channelled to key industries to gain experience and knowledge that is critical to the growth of their ventures. During the last 3 months, learner teams have gained invaluable knowledge and skills that shape both their ventures and their individual growth through the events that we organised for them. Below are some of the events that were attended by our venture teams.
Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF)
All venture teams from 2021 and 2022 had an opportunity to attend the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) from the 24th to the 28th of April 2023. The ZITF is the leading international exhibition organizer in Zimbabwe. Their exhibitions and events are the first place where industry trends, ideas and innovative products are unveiled. 13 teams participated in this event, showing their products and prototypes. Many teams made meaningful connections at the ZITF with other teams partnering with big companies to offer their products and services to. Below are some of the partnerships that were secured at the ZITF: Agrabbit Private Limited a 2022 VIA alumni team which is producing fertilizer from rabbit urine and droppings secured a trial partnership with SEEDCO, (Seed Co Zimbabwe is a leading producer and marketer of certified crop seeds in Zimbabwe. They supply hybrid maize seed to commercial farmers as well as wheat, soya bean, barley, sorghum and groundnut seed). Caenda Cycles, also a 2022 VIA alumni team partnered with the City of Harare for the creation of cycle tracks for pilot testing of their Cycles. Pured a 2021 VIA alumni team managed to secure a partnership with branding and marketing company for the branding of their packaging material.
Kurima Demo Day
The teams also managed to attend the Kurima Machinery Demo Day on the 16th of June 2023.The event was organised for the teams to pitch and enhance synergies between ventures in the agricultural sector and technologies available. Kurima is a company that provides African smallholder farmers with affordable machinery to improve productivity. The teams who are into agriculture and food processing benefited as they got their opportunity to see machines that can work in their ventures.
Via Circles
The teams participating have also managed to impact other learners in their schools through organized VIA circles. 850+ learners were directly impacted through these VIA circles. All 2022 venture teams have managed to conduct 22 comprehensive field visits within their industries for testing and standardisation. 120 progressive hours invested by advisors in learners. Crucial soft skills were learnt (time management, stress management, relationship building, leadership, managerial development, sales training, negotiation techniques and customer service) through the networking events that were organised for them.
The entrepreneurial journey is not easy but worth taking nonetheless.This is why we are so delighted to share with you how our learner venture teams are progressing.
In January all our Class of 2022 Virtual Innovation Accelerator teams managed to register their companies and are now legally recognised entities in the business fraternity. This is a huge milestone for these young entrepreneurs as they advance towards equal participating opportunity in the economy. Company registration for the ventures means the ability to trade thereby allowing them to openly operate and market their products.
The teams also started connecting with advisors who are keenly assisting them to transition their projects from being mere ideas to thriving ventures. The learner teams acknowledge the value that comes from the advice, experience and networks that the advisors are providing.
Emergination Africa introduced Incubation and Learn sessions to support emerging entrepreneurs and immerse them in the company of local industry. This came from the realization that the life of entrepreneurs needs constant support from individuals that believe in them. The Incubation and Learn sessions are designed to create opportunities for our ventures to create new synergies with local businesses that will boost their growth rate by bringing local knowledge, operating experience and market opportunities.
To start with, the Emergination Africa team hosted a Physical meetup to determine the needs of the teams. This was fruitful as it bridged the gap left by virtual meetings. Using Venture teams' feedback, successfully launched our first Incubation and Learn session dubbed 'Venture Accelerator Pitch Night' on the 30th of March 2023. The event was well attended with 12 teams from our business ventures displaying their prototypes and pitching their products to respected members of the business community in Zimbabwe. Key businesses that were part of this session include Pro Feeds ,Zim Trade and Deloitte Zimbabwe to name a few. The event was also graced by the Germany Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Michel Ott. The pitch night was worth all the effort as it exposed learners to an engaging crowd which shared invaluable insights for improving their businesses in order to thrive in this cut throat economy.There was also a networking session where learners and guests connected to find collaboration for growing the new ventures. EA is excited to share that some companies and individual business persons have opened doors for potential partnerships with the learner ventures.
To top off our 1 Quarter of 2023, Five of our Eight VIA teams from our first VIA ventures class of 2021 were accepted into the finals of the Anzisha Prize and are already busy with their assignments. The Anzisha Prize is an initiative between Mastercard Foundation and African Leadership Academy. Through its three-year fellowship program, young business owners have the opportunity to scale their businesses and gain business acumen through expert coaches. Just to add some context, Emergination Africa applied for the Anzisha Prize back in 2015 but unfortunately we could not make it to the finals. To be able to see these learners get further than us is a dream come true. We applied to Anzisha in our 4th year of university, our learners are applying in their 1st and 2nd year of university. If they are able to get further ahead and faster than we did, it's testimony that our programs are making a positive impact.
Thank you for being part of our vision of seeing an African continent where all young people can create opportunities for themselves and others.
This year’s program impacted nearly 50 000 learners from across Zimbabwe. The NBCC program successfully onboarded 140 High schools from across all the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe. The program was deliberate in inclusivity with a gender parity of, 10 girls’, 15 boys’ and 115 mixed gender schools. Attention was also given to bring socio-economic status with inclusion, as such 87 government schools, 45 mission schools and 8 private schools participated in the competition. The target profile of beneficiaries within each of the aforementioned provinces were, High school learners between the ages of 16 and 18 both male and female. This was done to create and allow for interdisciplinary action among the students
The largest portion of teachers were those teaching Commercial subjects Studies, however it was open to all teachers that teach the various subjects that fall within the Zimbabwean Curriculum.
The program came to a climatic end with the top 30 teams presenting at the Harare NBCC Finals in front of a high-level panel of investors. The national finals produced 5 teams which were selected by the panel of investors to transition into the Virtual Innovation Accelerator.
The Virtual Innovation Accelerator is an opportunity for Emergination Africa to accelerate National Business Case Competitions student entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe to create economic opportunities in their communities through innovative ventures aligned to the SDGs. The top 5 ideas received seed capital of $ 5000 investment and prize money. This is an opportunity for the ventures to continue working on their solutions alongside their teacher coaches.
MEET THE MARKETING TEAMS
Marist Nyanga - (Manicaland province) with a pig grower feed from indigenous fruits called Masekesa,
Milton High School- (Bulawayo province) who pitched their indigenous Fruit based cereal,
Westridge High School with an e-bicycle sharing platform.
St Dominics Chishawasha - (Mashonaland East Province) with an Agricultural foil from algae
Nashville High School – (Midlands Province) with a Rabbit Urine as fertilizer.
The teams are now receiving deep dive coaching from global and local industry professionals and entrepreneurs (advisors) through 1-2 hours virtual calls weekly.
The year 2022 has been a fruitful year for Emergination Africa, as we managed to train 263 educators across Zimbabwe in this post covid-19 environment. Of these 263 educators, 17% represented rural schools, which is an achievement we want to celebrate with you, our donors.
The Educator Venture Development training tackles educators’ key needs, helping them imbue a 21-century mindset and key skills that help improve pass rates. We have taken one key step to spread our impact across Africa by extending the Educator Venture Development Training to Kenya. We were able to train 31 educators, consisting of both teachers and school heads. The enthusiasm demonstrated by these educators gives us confidence of a budding future in Kenya. We were joined by representatives from the Kenyan Ministry of Education and they applauded the robustness of our training, especially its alignment to real world situations. The most exciting thing about Kenya is that their education system already has a vibrant idea generation platform.
After training in Zimbabwe, educators went back to their schools to equip learners in their different setups. These learners then came up with different business ventures that directly speak into the problems that their respective communities are facing.
Your donations allowed Emergination Africa to directly adopt 8 rural under privileged schools. This was a life changing opportunity for these learners as without this support offered, they could have never have had such a huge opportunity to pitch and get seed capital of $5000 as well as key entrepreneurial skills and a new mindset.
From 19 to 28 July Emergination African hosted its largest number of learners pitching yet in the National Business Case Competition 2022 edition with 88 schools pitching their ideas. We are proud to share that the impact we have been able to make is life changing and visible in these two weeks of Provincial Competitions!
To further empower our teacher-coaches, we have also introduced the Teach Coach of the year award, where we recognise exceptional teacher-coaches in their efforts to help learners reach their full potential. Though the main purpose of the National Business Case Competition is to identify, nurture, channel and develop future business leaders, we believe that it's important to also celebrate coaches who demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism and commitment.
We're happy to inform you that we were able to reach all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe, with 30 student teams of innovative and bright young entrepreneurial minds securing a spot in the upcoming NBCC National Finals!
The 30 finalists are now participating in Master Classes and judges’ comments as they perfect their ventures to become more than just school projects but sustainable and scalable ventures. This time before the National Finals in September is a chance to refine their ideas and prototypes.
Emergination Africa 2022 Program Launch
We are proud to present this year's edition of our flagship National Business Case Competition NBCC. Our 2022 NBCC program will traverse through three main phases before top tier teams are selected to go through the virtual accelerator program. Under the virtual accelerator program student teams will receive seed capital and guidance from industry expert advisors to implement their ventures.
Educator Venture Development Training
The NBCC will start with an Educator Venture Development Training, focused on supporting African High School principals (headteachers) and senior teachers to imbue a 21st-century education mindset and culture across their institutions that can identify and nurture globally competitive African talent. Educators will also have an opportunity to guide learners through the NBCC competitions by providing the necessary support to learners. The 2022 educator venture training will train 160 educators in Zimbabwe across all the 10 provinces. We are excited to let you know that for the first time our program is going beyond Zimbabwean borders to train 40 educators in Kenya. Making 200 the number of educators we aim to train this year.
Venture Development Competitions
The National Business Case Competition provides project-based learning and brings real-world practical learning to high schools through incentivized competition over 8 weeks. Learner teams will go through pre-recorded Masterclass sessions frome experts across various industries. Program facilitator advice will also be available as they develop their business/prototype.
Provincial Competitions
A total of 160 student teams, consisting of 5 learners, across all 10 provinces will pitch a business/prototype that will be presented at provincial competitions before a live panel of judges with the aim of identifying 25 teams that will proceed to the National Finals. (27 June - 1 July 2022)
National Finals
A total of 25 student teams selected from the Provincial Competitions will participate in the National Finals to be held in Harare with the aim of identifying national NBCC winners. (26 July – 28 July 2022)
Global Venture Accelerator
20 student teams from the NBCC National Final will go through an accelerator program for a period of 4 months, with each student team receiving seed capital and support from 40 local and global advisors. (1 August - 30 November 2022)
Adopt a School
All your donations have been pivotal in adopting schools that are under-resourced to participate in our program. We would like to thank you all and inform you of upcoming updates on how these adopted schools are performing throughout the program. We are excited with the anticipation of what these schools will do in this year's edition of the program.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
