Agripreneurship Regional Meeting draws out lessons learned from the Agrination Startup Cup Initiative
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with Industry Disruptors Game Changers and Berytech, held a regional meeting to take stock of lessons learned out of the Agrination Initiative and map out next steps in creating a scaled up agrifood innovation and entrepreneurship programme in the Near East and North Africa. The meeting took place for two days in Cairo, Egypt, on 30 and 31 August 2023.
The meeting showcased the projects of the 10 winning startups of Agrination and provided guidance and feedback to support their learning journey, as well as helped in understanding challenges and needs of ecosystem builders in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region to address in future initiatives. It also discussed the next steps to launch the Agrination phase 2.
“Through innovation and entrepreneurship, young people can help create the jobs they need and aspire to, while simultaneously transforming agrifood systems to be more sustainable, productive, inclusive and nutritious. This is the goal of FAO and of the Agrination initiative that was launched last year, not just to support young innovators and entrepreneurs in NENA countries, but also to help build enabling ecosystems that can deliver on SDG 2 and the goal of agrifood system transformation more broadly,” said AbdulHakim Elwaer, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa.
One important pathway to achieve the needed agrifood system transformation lies within the region’s youth. As major drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship, young men and women have the potential to rapidly change the agrifood landscape. Roughly 65 percent of the region’s population is below the age of 35 and at least 25 percent of NENA youth are facing unemployment. With the right skills and resources, this underutilized human capital can be leveraged to build a reimagined agrifood system that leverages innovation and sustainable technologies.
Young entrepreneurs have already been paving the way for agriculture and rural transformation in the region with dynamic new start-ups and MSMEs. They are creating decent employment opportunities, generating economic value, bridging gender divides and coming up with new ways to produce more accessible, nutritious and safe food using less resources.
To untap the full potential of youth in transforming agrifood systems to be more nutritious, sustainable, inclusive and resilient, there is a need to a) invest in their skills and education and b) build enabling environments or entrepreneurship ecosystems that support the inclusion of young men and women in agriculture and food value chains. This is the principle objective of the Agrination initiative.
The Agrination startup Cup is the first regional business competition for idea stage startups in the agrifood space. The initiative strives to foster innovation, decent employment and youth inclusion in agrifood systems by helping innovative solution-oriented enterprises, led by youth, to achieve market and investment readiness. It also aims to strengthen national entrepreneurial ecosystems in the field of agrifood. At the national level, Agrination worked closely with graduates of the Impact Makers programme to roll out the initiative and help young entrepreneurs in each country make the most of this opportunity.