RUFORUM Biennial Conference in Nairobi

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is a network of 85 Universities in 35 African countries is pleased to announce the 2018 RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC). The 2018 RUFORUM Young African

Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC) whose overall purpose is to catalyse entrepreneurship

through promotion of business innovation and provision of seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas among African youth.

RUYAEC invites young (<35 years) African entrepreneurs and incubates to compete for 10

awards to show case their innovations, enterprises and business concepts and propositions. The focus is for the young entrepreneurs to share their stories at an international stage with

close to 1200 participants drawn from academia, business and industry, development organisations, practitioners and philanthropists. It is hoped that through this competition,

young entrepreneurs’ business concepts, impact, innovation and business opportunities

can be expanded.

While the focus of this competition is on innovation in agribusiness, other innovations, incubations, business enterprises and business concepts along ICTs, health, engineering, natural resources, meteorology, urbanization, green economy, and transport and communication, among other areas, will be considered.

Purpose

The RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition primary purpose is to promote business innovation through entrepreneurship and provide seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas to be valorized and enhance and foster a spirit of entrepreneurship among African youth. The competition specifically seeks to:

• Provide young entrepreneurs with opportunity to show-case their businesses and share their development as an inspiration to many young African potential entrepreneurs
• Bring collective action towards provision of seed funding to young entrepreneurs through a transparent and competitive process.
• Provide a platform for young entrepreneurs to demonstrate their impact and pitch their business with investors and stakeholders through capacity building opportunity.
• Create a network of young entrepreneurs across Africa working together and sharing experiences that escalate youth contribution and job creation in Africa.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Persons with an established business enterprise and/or those with innovations that can potentially be commercialized and/or those with business concepts
• The business enterprise/potential enterprise should have a defined business model that show case the innovativeness of the proposed enterprise/business/innovation.
• Persons in the age category 16-34 years
• Submissions should be in English or French using the template provided.

Benefits