Deadline Date: 04-Nov-2022

The 2022 AgriPitch Competition is now open for applications to support agripreneurs by focusing on building the bankability of their businesses and ensuring that they are pitch ready for potential investors.

---

Entrepreneurs will be coached and mentored in an interactive and tailored two-week training programme to review, prepare and present their businesses for capital raising from investors. Agripreneurs will meet investors in the virtual AgriPitch DealRoom, following training on how to manage the investor engagement process and their knowledge of areas such as: business models, investment/business plans, financial structuring, market needs assessment, business financing, and business pitching.

Objectives

• Enhance the investment readiness of agripreneurs through training and ensure they are pitch ready for investors.
• Virtually showcase to judges and investors ready youth-led businesses focused on food systems, with the aim of raising the profile of these businesses and facilitating their access to financing (debt, equity, and/or grant).
• Showcase the ingenuity of young African agripreneurs to compete globally, while motivating other African youth to aspire and seize opportunities in agribusiness.

Theme: The Role of African Youth Within African Food Systems

Focus Areas

• The Pitch and Investor Readiness Bootcamp will focus on supporting agripreneurs to:
  • Position their business/opportunity as ready for investment, including how to articulate to an investor return information and other key data that investors require.
  • Improve their pitches for an investor audience.
  • Improve their knowledge on fundraising processes and appropriate instruments for their business size, stage, and required support.
  • Strengthen their capacity to plan for and communicate on their growth path, how they have pivoted and/or plan to take up new opportunities or address challenges.
  • Capture and communicate effectively their short, medium, and long-term milestones and how they plan on getting to these growth milestones.

Target Beneficiaries

• Youth: Participants in the AgriPitch Competition are young people aged between 18 and 35 that own at least 25% of their business and are in leadership and management positions of the business.
• Early start-ups: Enterprises from ideation stage with proof of concept.
• Mature start-ups /MSMEs: Enterprises must be registered with existing market traction.
• Women-empowered Businesses (WEBs): Firms with at least 51% share of women ownership or founded by a woman and with existing market traction.

Funding Information

• Total grant funds available USD 140,000.
• Duration of Call for Applications Three (3) weeks.

Eligibility Criteria

• Open to all agripreneurs in Africa.
• Early Start-ups (0-3 years):
  • Meet eligibility criteria for Early Start-ups.
  • Individuals who are at the very early stage of developing ideas/concepts for agripreneurship or a newly established business.
  • Must have a clearly defined prototype or proof of concept.
  • May or may not have had any products introduced to the market.
  • May or may not have a registered corporate entity but must have required business licenses.
• Mature Start-ups (above 3 years):
  • Individuals and firms with existing market traction: technology, product, service, etc., already on the market.
  • Must have a clear investment ask and growth plan/ strategy.
  • Must be a registered corporate entity.
• Women-empowered Businesses (WEBs):
  • Meet eligibility requirements for either Early Start-ups or Mature Start-ups.
  • Firms that are 51% owned by women or founded by a woman.

For more information, visit 2022 AgriPitch Competition.