Generation Africa launches third annual competition for innovative African agripreneurs

• With $100,000 up for grabs

Onome Amuge

Generation Africa, a partnership initiative established to empower youth entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector across the continent, has commenced its third annual $100,000 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition , an innovative platform for young, agrifood change makers with business models that can revolutionize food systems in Africa.

According to the organisers, this year’s competition aims to expand the GoGettaz community of agripreneurs, providing them with access to education, mentorship and investment networks as they introduce, grow, or scale their agrifood ventures. Additionally, the competition seeks to reward visionary young Africans who demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset and innovative problem-solving skills towards the development and growth of their agri food businesses.

The GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition is exclusively for African citizens between 18 and 35 years old who are founders or co-founders of social or commercial agrifood businesses headquartered in Africa. They are to submit their applications to http://GoGettaz.africa to stand a chance of fostering their businesses and eventually, winning the grand prize.

The selection process is scheduled to end in a grand finale pitch competition in July 2021 with the award ceremony taking place along the Africa Food Prize , where two winners, one woman and one man, with scalable and impactful business or social ventures will each receive US$50,000 for their businesses.

Beyond the two grand prizes, Generation Africa stated that it hopes to discover more deserving recipients in the 2021 competition as impact awards have been created to celebrate businesses with tangible social impact. It also recalled that last year’s competition awarded four additional prizes of $2,500 to enterprises that played an inspiring role in their communities.

Commenting on the relevance of the competition, Dickson Naftali, head of Generation Africa noted that 2021 has been an important year for global food systems as the covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity, inequalities and poverty, challenged conventional logic around food production and food security as global supply lines came to a standstill.

“It is obvious that things must change. Generation Africa believes that food systems can change if we collaboratively support young African agrifood entrepreneurs, as well as small and medium agribusinesses across the continent,” he added.

Speaking from the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) head office in Kenya, Amanda Namayi, GoGettaz lead, disclosed that despite the covid-19 crisis experienced last year, the competition was an impressive turn-out as over 3,000 applicants from 29 African countries registered to compete, with 12 exceptional businesses making it through to the Top 12.

“This year we look forward to thousands more entrepreneurs hearing our message, joining GoGettaz, and caring to compete for the grand prizes. GoGettaz is a movement for change, and these are the changemakers,” she remarked.

Namayi further commented that cash prizes are not the only motivation for entering the competition as a thousand members of the GoGettaz community received free access to the Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness courses organized by the agripreneurship alliance in 2020, adding that all who join the GoGettaz community get instant online access to high quality training material to help guide them through the business start-up process.

Since its launch in 2019, the organisation has brought onboard USAID as a co-founding partner. Influential new collaborators including; Nourishing Africa and One Young World, have also joined the ecosystem development movement to reach and inspire agrifood entrepreneurs on the African continent in innovative ways.

Asides its annual prize competition, the Generation Africa GoGettaz online platform is also a community building initiative to give a voice to the young agripreneurs of Africa through the initiation of research surveys, conversations and high-level meetings, to ensure opportunities and challenges are understood and taken seriously in agenda-setting forums across the continent and globally.