FAQs - Generation Africa

Over 10 million young people join the labour force every year, yet the continent creates only 3.7 million jobs annually. By 2035, there will be more young people entering Africa’s workforce each year than in the rest of the globe combined. Leaving 60% of young people unemployed is a tragic loss of human potential and could exacerbate hardship, amplifying conflict and insecurity, triggering humanitarian crises and accelerating migration.

Along with manufacturing, Africa’s modernising agricultural economy presents the most opportunities for new jobs and income sources, with scope for innovative new businesses emerging all along the value chain to energise the sector from seed to fork. Africa’s annual food import bill is US$35 billion and projected to reach US$110 billion by 2025. Innovative entrepreneurship could retain more of that value on the continent, helping to counterbalance rural-urban migration; strengthen diverse, resilient livelihoods; professionalize farming; and provide affordable, healthy food to Africa’s growing population.

Across the agri-food chain in Africa, innovations are to be found in how we grow, harvest, process, store, transport, package, sell and consume food. Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs) contribute significantly to the economic vitality of emerging markets.

Consultation has identified five key factors that could increase the volume, speed and quality of entrepreneurs as they journey from ideation to scale:

This requires a great deal more coordination and focus across the continent including policy reforms that enable, inspire and equip young entrepreneurs, recognizing the key role of policy and regulation in creating viable pathways for business creation and innovation. The future is now. Generation Africa is now!

The 2019 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize competition inspired thousands of aspirant and early-stage entrepreneurs to sign up to the GoGettaz Community through our VC4A partner collaboration. In 2020 we intend this to evolve into a vibrant online platform linking entrepreneurs to the existing ecosystem of support, education, innovation, mentorship, business development services and capital.

The 2019 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize competition inspired thousands of aspirant and early-stage entrepreneurs to sign up to the GoGettaz Community through our VC4A partner collaboration. In 2020 we intend this to evolve into a vibrant online platform linking entrepreneurs to the existing ecosystem of support, education, innovation, mentorship, business development services and capital.

Generation Africa has convened an Ambassadors Group, composed of pre-eminent leaders and dynamic entrepreneurs, to give voice to agripreneurs’ needs and opportunities at the pan-African and national levels. Ambassadors are asked to undertake: 1) Advocacy for catalytic changes, at the continental, national and sub-national levels, in support of agripreneurs’ needs; 2) Messaging that inspires and guides young agripreneurs; and 3) Learning, via engagement with the Landscape Report. The inaugural Generation Africa Ambassadors Group includes:

•  Ada Osakwe, Founder and CEO, Agrolay Ventures
• Agnes Kalibata, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
•  Eleni Gabre-Madhin, Chief Happiness Officer, blueMoon
•  Gilbert Houngbo, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
•  Ishmael Sunga, CEO, Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU)
•  Mohamed Ait Kadi, President, General Counsel of Agricultural Development, Government of Morocco
•  Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Executive Chair, Econet Group
•  Svein Tore Holsether, President and CEO, Yara International

• Entrepreneurs must be age 35 or under on the day of submission to the online GoGettaz Afripreneur Prize competition, and be legally recognised as an adult in the country of his/her nationality.
• Entrepreneurs must hold nationality (with official ID) from any of the 54 nations of the African Union.
• Entrepreneurs must be the founder or co-founder of the enterprise he or she represents in the competition and play an active role in its operations and leadership.
• Entrepreneurs must have no criminal record related to corruption, tax evasion, financial impropriety, felony or other offences, and be willing to provide a signed declaration to that effect, if requested.

●       Your venture must have its headquarters in one of the 54 countries of the African Union and must be officially registered in an African country.

●       Your venture must be designed to be financially sustainable, either as a for-profit business or a market-based social venture with a business model that includes revenue generation – at least in part – and aiming for non-donor-based sustainability over time.

●       Your venture must play a role in the agri-food sector or support the development of the agri-food sector through an innovation, disruption or original process improvement across the food value chain from seed to fork.

●       The “agri-food sector” may be defined as businesses including:

▪        Agri-food research & development

▪        Primary food production

▪        Crop nutrition

▪        Irrigation

▪        Mechanisation, automation or robotics

▪        Crop protection

▪        Hydroponics or urban farming

▪        Transport, distribution, storage or logistics

▪        Food processing

▪        Packaging or marketing

▪        Food retail or service

▪        Waste management or recycling

▪        Digital or technology solutions/services to the agri-food sector

▪        Innovative finance solutions/services to the agri-food sector

▪        Renewable energy or environmental solutions/services to the agri-food sector

Yara International is a global crop nutrition company pioneering new and scalable models to drive the transition to sustainable food and land use.

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet, to fulfil its vision of a collaborative society, a world without hunger and a planet respected. To meet these commitments, Yara has taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming and works closely with partners throughout the whole food value chain to develop more climate-friendly crop nutrition solutions. In addition, Yara is committed to working towards sustainable mineral fertilizer production. Yara fosters an open culture of diversity and inclusion that promotes the safety and integrity of its employees, contractors, business partners, and society at large. Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has a worldwide presence with about 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries.

Yara is also the founder and sponsor of the Africa Green Revolution Forum convening 2,000+ leaders to transform agriculture. In 2005, Yara initiated what is now the Africa Food Prize, awarded each year to an outstanding individual or institution leading efforts to change farming. It is also a founding partner of the Farm to Market Alliance providing holistic value chain solutions that is demonstrably raising incomes for 145,631 African farmers.

VC4A is the leading African online platform connecting start-up entrepreneurs with knowledge, support programs, mentors and investors. It includes 12,500 registered start-ups across 46 countries, networked with 90,000 community members, 900 support programs, and 2000 active investors. VC4A start-ups with ecosystem support raise 2.5x more capital, and on average create seven jobs, mostly for youth.

Wasafiri is an international consultancy supporting system change on complex problems. It has provided a decade of strategic management support to establish Africa-wide architecture through which cross-sector partners now collaborate on agricultural transformation, including Grow Africa, a partnership platform to accelerate inclusive investment into African agriculture with US$2.3 bn invested and 88,000 jobs created.