African Agribusiness Incubation Conference

A great opportunity to Celebrate Africa’s huge agribusiness potential  with Investors and Young Agriprenuers, Coach, Mentor, participate in Exciting Agribusiness Pitches, B2B Events plus meeting Innovators from across the breadth of agribusiness in Africa and beyond. 

Young people will have an opportunity to be coached, speed mentored, linked with mentors, pitch their ideas, find technologies, meet innovators and networking with potential financiers and investors.  

The Technology and Innovations Expo allows SMEs, Development Actors to interact, learn how to manage business challenges, adopt new technologies and pitch their ideas for scale.  

Discussion will focus on how to build successful enterprises, get support and financing including the benefits of incubation. This will be an opportunity for accelerated learning and exchange of knowledge between emerging and established business and a place to find  new partners through the B2B events. The event will inform the current and new thinking about the strategies for private and public engagement to deliver impact solutions towards CAADP Malabo Declaration, SDGs and Agenda 2030, the African Union Agenda 2063 and other global development goals.

BACKGROUND

Africa has the world’s youngest population with 420 million aged between 15-35.Between  2000  and  2008, Africa’s  working  age population  (15-64  years) grew from 443  million to 550 million; an increase of 25%; representing an annualized growth of  2.7%  per year (World  Bank  2011).

The continent’s labour force will be 1 billion strong by 2040, making it the world’s largest, surpassing both China and India (AfDB, OECD, UNDP, and UNECA 2012).The youth in Africa today are the continent’s most important asset.  But they require economic stability and entrepreneurial development as well as shared wealth experiences.  

In Africa, agriculture is the only sector with the size and economic leverage to generate broad based, poverty-reducing growthThe continent’s  $300 billion food market is projected to grow to $1.0 trillion by 2030.Agriculture’s contribution could be significantly enhanced by enhancing value adding agro-processing and more efficient post-harvest handling, storage, distribution and marketing businesses. Hence agribusiness incubation, which can help get such businesses get established, is a vital tool for jobs and wealth creation.  This aligns well with African Union agenda 2063, CAADP investment plans and the UN SDGs. This is the inspiration towards hosting the 2017 Annual International AAIN Agribusiness Conference’s themed: “Engaging Youth in Agribusiness  Trade and Investment”