Growing agribusiness entrepreneurs in East Africa

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

The business plans from the 8 cohorts of students (180) are being submitted to the Agripreneurship Alliance right now.  The winners are being selected and individual feedbackis  being provided by a set of expert reviewers. We expect a total of 50 business plans.

News on the progress of some of the agripreneurs:

Ritah the founder of Oikos White Meat Supplies  has just completed her 3-month internship on two German pig farms.  She learnt a lot about state of the art pig farming and had the opportunity to visit a major agriculture exhibtion.  Now back home in Uganda she is building up the training programme for young employed youth and has decided to open a "pork joint" which are very popular pork restaurants in Uganda.

Steven's wine processing facility was recently commissioned by His Excellency the Dutch Ambassador. Steven is producing wine from pineapple and other fruit and has developed some attractive packaging.

Eunice is now exporting her organic hibiscus tea product to Germany.

Hillary and Pelagia have been accepted into the very competitive Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme which is based in Nigeria.  They will participate in a multi-month training programme with mentorship.  Hillary has developed an innovative lemn after shave product and Pelagia is working with women farmer groups.

Lucy featured as a guest speaker during the members meeting of Generation Africa - a multi-stakeholder public-private partnership. Lucy grew up in the chaotic environment of the LRA in northen Uganda.  Against all the odds she completed her Masters degree at Gulu university, whilst starting up a fresh juice business called JuFresh.  She is also training uneducated youth in Government Youth Livelihood Programme as well as training refugees in the camps in N. Uganda to help them start vegetable businesses.

The work to grow agriprenurs in East Africa continues to progress very well.  There are currently 183 students participating in the Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness training in 6 locations in Uganda, Kenya and Somaliland.  Most of the courses are drawing to a close soon and we are looking forward to receive about  50 business plans.  We have a team of experienced agribusiness experts who will review the Plans and provide input to the students how they can be further improved.  With their input, we select the winner per location that will be awarded a prize of 1000 USD. 

In October we also launched the course on-line as a Pilot to allow young people to follow it individually.  A further 140 young people are participating on-line, 92% of them being from Africa.  A number of organisations are interested in promoting this course within their networks to bring increased scale of input.  However, we want to incorporate all the learnings from this on-line Pilot (which has no physical trainer) before expanding further.  We know that it is very tough to start a business all on your own without a support network around!

The young people who followed the Training in 2018 are progressing really well. For example, Ritah,our young pig farmer (see photo), who was one of the prize winners in 218, now has 200 pigs.  They multiply very fast under the right conditions and a healthy feed regime!  She is training unemployed youth in the villages around her farm, giving them piglets with the commitment to buy back the pigs once they have grown.  In Uganda there is a big demand for pork that is raised under hygienic conditions with proper care for animal welfare.  Ritah is currently seeking financing to build what will be the second slaughterhouse in Kampala for pigs (a city of 1.7 million people!). Most pigs today are slaughtered with little concern for hygiene.  Ritah was awarded an internship to spend 3 months in Germany on two German pig farms. She is learning a lot, even though the weather is a bit of a challenge right now, after Kampala which is 25°C year-round!

We wish you a very happy Christmas and all the very best for 2020!  A HUGE thank you for all your support that is changing lives and giving new hope to hundreds of young people.

A lot has happened in the last three months!  Together with our partners in the AGcelerate multi-stakeholder partnership in Uganda, we organised a weeklong set of activities. 140 participants from 18 countries came to the AGcelerate LAB 2019, 80% of them being below 30 years old and 35% female. During the week a Boot Camp was organised at the RUCID Organic Training College to generate business ideas from the many innovations initiated by the College. A 2-day Workshop was held at Makerere University on the theme Scaling from Ideas to Large-Scale Agribusinesses that included business school style case studies. The participants were inspired by the experience of Ambrose, Ritah and Lovin - three agripreneurs at different stages in their development. There was also a business pitch competition which was won by a young entrepreneur Steven Balyejjusa who is developing creams and lotions from avocado oil. The activities of the week were completed by farm visits – to a coffee plantation, an organic waste to soldier fly to chicken feed installation, and to a snail farm. Numerous collaborations and interactions have been initiated as a result of the 2019 LAB.

The Agripreneurship Alliance’s revamped training course Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness has been already launched in the Makerere University Business School and in Gulu University Uganda. Steven Carr spent a week at Bishop’s Stuart University in early September to train a further 10 Trainers. Courses at the other Universities in Kenya, Uganda and Somaliland are starting imminently once the students are back after the summer break.