A total of 35 youth drawn from five African countries were shortlisted in the on-going youth competition dubbed Agribiz4Africa. Over 800 participants submitted business ideas via the online platform agribiz4Africa. The 35 finalists are from Nigeria, Rwanda, Cameroon, Benin, Ghana and Kenya. The ideas were judged by agribusiness academia from Kenya and Nigeria and the top 25 selected contestants received a USD 1000 grant to test their idea and develop a concrete business plans.
 
Similarly, 32 legible video clips were judged by a Communication expert from Daystar University and leading TV producers from KTN, NTV and CITIZEN. The Top 10 video contestants were assigned a lead Media expert to mentor them on professional video production.

The 35 arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, on 26th of August, 2014, for a two-day training boot-camp. Thereafter, a judging panel will select the top three from the two categories-Agribusiness Idea and Agribusiness Messaging- who will travel to Addis Ababa for the award ceremony.

Speaking in Nairobi, Syngenta head of Corporate Affairs for Africa and Middle East, said that the competition’s main objective was to promote new business opportunities in crop value chains in Africa.

“Syngenta’s mission is to raise awareness of opportunities in agriculture; identify wealth creation activities among communities in Africa and make agriculture “cool” for the youth,” said Kinyua M’Mbijjewe, Head of Corporate Affairs, Africa Middle East.

The competition was carried through an online platform http://www.agribiz4africa.com/ and youth aged between 18-30 years from Sub Saharan Africa were invited to submit a 500 word business ideas essay that was be judged by leading agribusiness academia from East and West Africa.

James Shikwati, the Enactus Kenya, Country Director, noted that youth from Sub Saharan Africa had been challenged to identify a bottle neck or problem that makes a particular crop’s value chain ineffective and/or inefficient. They were then required to propose a practical idea/solution that has the potential to make a step-change improvement in the chosen value chain.

The top 3 contestants from each category during the Semi-final competition on August 29, 2014 will proceed for the Finals in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) during the African Green Revolution Forum 2014 at the African Union Headquarters.

The overall winner of the business idea competition will get a USD 10,000 cash prize while the overall winner of the Video production competition will get a USD 5, 000 cash prize.

The Africa Agribusiness Competition is organized by Syngenta and Enactus Kenya. It targets youth aged 18 – 30 years. Its objectives are to promote new business opportunities in crop value chains in Africa; raise awareness of opportunities in agriculture; identify wealth creation activities among communities in Africa and make agriculture “cool” for the youth.

About 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.  http://www.syngenta.com/

About Enactus Kenya: Enactus is a community of students, academia and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives. For the last 12 years, Enactus Kenya has organized 12 university business competitions and successfully presented national champions at the World Cup at various cities across the world. www.enactus.org/country/kenya/

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Evelyne Ogutu                          
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Evelyne Ogutu
Senior Account Manager
Media Edge Public Relations
M: +254 721 794 754
T: +254 020 4205 000
http://www.redhousegroupke.com/