The Agripreneurship Alliance (founded in August 2017 as a Swiss-based non-profit Association) is helping to address the problems of youth unemployment, malnutrition and gender inequality by implementing a training course Entrepreneurship in Agri-Business in partnership with Universities in East Africa. This document is a brief review of the activities of the Agripreneurship Alliance in 2018 and future planning for 2019.

1. The Agripreneurship Alliance (founded in August 2017 as a Swiss-based non-
profit Association) is helping to address this problem by implementing a
training course Entrepreneurship in Agri-Business. This training takes the
budding agripreneur through all the steps to build a solid business plan/canvas
to turn their agri-business ideas into reality. It is applicable to businesses right
across the agri-food value chain from primary food production, through
processing, packaging and route to market. The course is based on a ‘blended’
learning approach with 10 modules that utilise the strengths of face to face
experiential learning with access to a standardized quality curriculum and
aligned resources, learning materials and tools via an online learning platform.
Five Universities/Institutes in East Africa volunteered to pilot the programme
and the first Train the Trainer session was organised in Nairobi in March 2018.
A total of 10 Trainers participated from Egerton & Laikipia Universities in
Kenya, Gulu University and the IITA Youth Agri Hub in Uganda, as well as the
IGAD Sheikh Technical Veterinary School in Somaliland
Farmer populations are ageing rapidly. Worldwide the average age of farmers
is 60, including in developing countries. Older farmers are less likely to
introduce new, transformative production techniques that increase
productivity. It is young people that have the creativity and dynamism to
adopt new technologies to increase productivity whilst reducing environmental
impact. It is essential to build more effective ways to motivate young people
and help build the business skills required to enter agriculture and create
sustainable businesses. Without this, who will be the farmers of the future?
Also, considering high youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the
need to import food into the continent, entrepreneurship in agriculture and
agri-business offers many opportunities both to create local jobs and to
improve food security.
In the period May to October 2018, the
Trainers from these Universities &
Institutes rolled out the course. Initially
recruiting 87 young people, 76 of whom
completed the course and working
individually or in teams, submitted 34
business plans into a competition with a
cash start-up award of US$1,000 for the
best business plan per location. The
business plans spanned across primary
food production and processing with a
wide variety of products. We were
delighted that the winning teams were
led in majority by young women.
Trainers from, Kenya, Somaliland &
Uganda in Nairobi, March 2018
Agripreneurship Alliance
“Entrepreneurship in Agri-Business”
Agripreneurship Alliance
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www.theagripreneur.org
Partners’18

2. The plan for 2019 is as follows:
I. Develop a bespoke Entrepreneurship in Agri-Business platform that hosts
the revised experiential course. It will also include a MOOC that can be
accessed by young people around the globe, utilising the strengths of
social media to enable interaction between individuals to energise, ideate
and create new businesses. The Platform will include case studies of
successful agripreneurs, applications of sustainable agriculture and agri-
business and examples of new technologies to increase yield, decrease
food losses and waste and improve nutritional value.
II. Through our partners, train at least 200 students and catalyse the
development of at least 70 business plans/canvases.
III. Conduct a Train the Trainer workshop in Kampala, Uganda for partner
Universities facilitating the ‘Entrepreneurship in Agri-Business course’.
IV. Further develop the Mentoring programme that has started to support
the young people from the first cohorts. Engage and train new mentors.
Based on the success of the pilot and the strong interest from the University
Staff and students, each of the five locations wants to run between 2 and 3
courses in 2019 and at least two more Universities have requested to join. This
will result in 10 cohorts, training at least 200 students during 2019.
The pilot, funded by SIANI, adopted a rapid prototype approach and was built
upon an existing course and platform developed by a general management
training organisation based in Nairobi. Although demonstrating many benefits
and strengths, it has been identified (also by our Trainers and students) that a
clear curriculum focus is needed upon the Agri-Food sector and a bespoke
platform Entrepreneurship in Agri-Business is required. This will host the
materials for the group work course facilitated within Universities and
Institutions and a Massive On-line Open Course (MOOC) accessible globally.
Winners from top to bottom:,
JuFresh Enterprises & Oitkos Enterprises, Uganda. Nusha Tomato,
Somaliland. Barani Aqua & FreshFarm Mushroom, Kenya.
2018 Winners
of the
Business Plan
Start-up Award
Agripreneurship Alliance
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www.theagripreneur.org
The Agripreneurship Alliance has a fund raising target for 2019 that will enable
us to have significant impact on the lives of 200 young agripreneurs, their
universities and the communities in which they live.
If you would like to discuss how you could support the Agripreneurship Alliance
please contact:
Dr. Anne Roulin, President: anne.roulin@theagripreneur.org or
Steven Carr, CEO: steven@theagripreneur.org
The Agripreneurship Alliance
focuses on supporting youth-
driven African agribusiness
contributing to the Sustainable
Development Goals’ 1, 2 5 & 8