Press Release

December 9, 2015

60 YOUTH SMEs IN AGRIBUSINESS FROM EAST AFRICA UNDERGO ACCELERATED TRAINING TO YIELD INVESTOR - READY BUSINESSES 

60 successful applicants of the Young Innovators in Agribusiness 2015 Competition drawn from Ethiopia are undergoing business training at Toyota Kenya Academy in Nairobi. They arrived in Nairobi on December 8 and will leave on December 12 2015.  They are drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia, in the competition’s SMEs category. The trainees will be exposed to fundamentals of agribusiness innovation as well as practical, investible, sustainable and cutting edge models in the agribusiness value chain. It is expected that this understanding will transform their activities and businesses in their home countries.

The youth, aged between 18-35 years, run small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that address a need along various agricultural value chains in their respective countries. The needs include production, value addition, innovation and knowledge transfer. A similar number of youth start-up owners were trained in October this year. Highlights from the training included discussions with business leaders from Uchumi Supermarkets and Palma World.

The Young Innovators in Agribusiness 2015 competition follows last year’s successful agribusiness competition that attracted over 800 participants from sub-Saharan Africa as well as the participation of Young Innovators in Agribusiness at the 2015 Africa Green Revolution Forum in Zambia.

This year’s edition is made possible by the USAID-supported East Africa Trade and Investment Hub, Syngenta, Inter-Region Economic Network and Toyota Kenya Academy.  The current competition’s main focus is to equip youth with skills to establish and run sustainable enterprises along agricultural value chains. The competition targets 60 start-ups and 60 SMEs.

At the Toyota Kenya Academy, the enterprise holders are receiving accelerated training meant to yield investor ready businesses. This is done through individual work, classroom sessions conducted by course facilitators, group work and talks from thought leaders.

The top  30 finalists will receive entry to the Agribusiness Innovation and Trade Fair to be conducted by IREN and its partners  in May 2016 while the top 6 finalists will receive seed capital amounting to USD 20 000. 

Application forms, competition guidelines, and awards information are available on the competition website, www.younginnovatorsinagribusiness.com

About the partners 

The East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (the Hub): The Hub is the U.S. Government’s flagship project under the presidential Trade Africa initiative, launched in 2013 to boost trade and investment with and within Africa. The Hub is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The goal of the Hub is to deepen regional integration, increase the competitiveness of select regional agriculture value chains, promote two-way trade with the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and facilitate investment and technology that drives trade growth intra-regionally and to global markets. www.eatradehub.org

Syngenta: Syngenta is one of the world's leading companies with more than 28,000 employees in over 90 countries dedicated to our purpose: Bringing plant potential to life. Through world-class science, global reach and commitment to our customers we help to increase crop productivity, protect the environment and improve health and quality of life. www.syngenta.com

IREN: The Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) is a leading independent African think tank that promotes ideas and strategies geared towards causing prosperity in Africa through free enterprise and sound public policy. IREN's key focus areas include targeted events, trainings, research, consultancy, communication and its flagship magazine: The African Executive - published in English every Wednesday. IREN hosts the Enactus Kenya which has managed university undergraduate business competitions for the last 13 years. IREN and Enactus Kenya successfully managed last year’s Agribusiness Competition that attracted 800 participants across Sub Saharan Africa. www.irenkenya.com

Toyota Kenya Academy (TKA) Toyota Tsusho Corporation Group Company -Toyota Kenya Limited opened its human resources training center, Toyota Kenya Academy, on July 16, 2014 at the Toyota Kenya Business Park located three kilometres southeast of Nairobi. Toyota Tsusho operated an automotive training center at Toyota Kenya to nurture its own technical staff. The center expanded and reopened as the Toyota Kenya Academy to provide learning opportunities that develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes of our staff, customers, stakeholders and communities. Toyota Kenya Academy offers courses on automobile &autotronics technology, entrepreneurship, agri-prenuership and agri-mechanization.

Through partnering with various recognized institutions in the provision of skills development, the Academy will achieve its overall objective of being a learning Centre of Excellence within the region in relevant training, and as part of Company’s corporate social responsibility, it will partner with various recognized institutions in the provision of skills development. www.toyotakenyafoundation.org

For more information, contact 

Josephat 0724968698  [email protected]; 

Leonard 0728725722 [email protected]  or

Simon 0734857576 [email protected] 

FACEBOOK: Young Innovators in Agribusiness
TWITTER HANDLE: @Agribiz4Africa 
Website: www.younginnovatorsinagribusiness.com