Enter the Nestlé Needs Youth agripreneur competition

In late June, Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) launched the Nestlé Needs Youth (NNY) Agri Competition, in partnership with the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship South Africa.

The competition presents a possibility for youth agripreneurs to win mentorship and training alternatives totalling over US$30 000 (about R480 000) by the Branson Centre’s Ignite Business Accelerator, an investor-readiness and go-to-market programme. The motivation behind the competition is to encourage agripreneurship amongst younger folks throughout East and Southern Africa.

The competition is open to folks of all genders between the ages of 18 and 30, dwelling in East or Southern Africa. Entries shut on 31 July 2022. In August, 5 candidates will likely be shortlisted, and they’re going to pitch for considered one of the three prime prizes, price a complete of US$30 000 (about R480 000), courtesy of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship SA.

Fostering agricultural growth

Speaking about the competition and Nestlé’s partnership with the Branson Centre, Desiree Zikalala, Nestlé’s head of studying and growth for ESAR, says: “Many of Africa’s economies have agrarian foundations, from group all the solution to nationwide degree, and thru this competition, we need to help and encourage younger folks to take part on this financial sector. There are a number of transformative prospects in agriculture that desperately want younger folks to step in and lead, and we consider the Ignite programme placements which might be up for grabs will assist facilitate these alternatives.

“We intend for the NNY Agri Competition to open further dialogue on young people in agriculture, and help build transformative networks that support agripreneurship, employment and employability.”

An answer to the pervasive expertise hole in agriculture in Africa is capability growth, mentorship, and training help. This will speed up the evolution of the sector and the achievement of higher efficiencies, improved processes, and cutting-edge applied sciences. As drivers of innovation, younger folks on the continent are poised to guide and leapfrog this shift.

“This is an important partnership to accelerate some of the top solutions to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture through youth-led innovations. We look forward to building on and supporting the top three pitches with Nestlé Needs Youth to enable [the candidates’] access to finance, new markets and networks through Ignite,” says Nwabisa Mayema, strategic partnerships director at the Branson Centre.

Prizes

The competition will award the prime three candidates placements in the Branson Centre’s Ignite programme.

The first prize is the Ignite Investment for Scale programme, an intensive six-month mentorship and training programme that can assist the successful agripreneur get their enterprise investor prepared. The programme options fortnightly mentoring, and entry to business professionals and enterprise coaches throughout eight essential areas in enterprise, particularly objective, planning, product, model, folks, processes, finance, and partnerships.

The second prize is the three-month Ignite Access to Markets programme, which focuses on mentoring, teaching and enabling agripreneurs in the early phases of their companies to construct sturdy platforms so as to win new partnerships and acquire entry to market. This programme options fortnightly mentoring, in addition to entry to business professionals and enterprise coaches throughout 4 essential areas in enterprise, particularly objective, planning, product, and partnerships.

The third prize is the Ignite Ideation into Action programme, one-month mentoring scheme that provides agripreneurs entry to business professionals and enterprise coaches throughout three essential areas to assist flip ideation into motion, particularly objective, planning, and product.

Entries should be submitted on-line by way of the NNY Agri Competition platform: forms.office.com/r/3U83rPBRaK. For extra data, go to nestle-esar.com.