The AYuTe Africa Challenge Nigeria is an enterprise development program initiated by Heifer International and implemented by Enactus Nigeria to identify, nurture, support innovative, relevant and technology-driven agric-centric enterprises to grow, scale and thrive.
There will cash prize awards of a total of $20,000 for the top three winners. The overall winner will be awarded $10,000, the first runner-up will be awarded $6,000 and the second runner-up will be awarded $4,000.
Candidates should be early-stage or growth-stage youth-led agritech businesses/companies with innovative solutions impacting smallholder farmers at scale.
Eligibility criteria
Applicants must:
- Be aged 18-35 by the closing day of submission to the AYuTe Nigeria challenge
- Be a youth with innovative ideas focusing on the agriculture sector
- Have ideas that are proven to solve social problems and are implementable, technically feasible, economically sound (affordable), and environmentally smart (eco-friendly)
- Hold Nigerian nationality with official ID (national identity card, international passport, or permanent voters’ card)
- Produce financial statements for the venture
- Be the founder or co-founder of the enterprise represented in the competition and play an active role in its operation and leadership
- Have no criminal record related to corruption, tax evasion, financial impropriety, felony or other offences
- Have the potential for partnership and collaboration with other actors/stakeholders
The company must have:
- Been registered/incorporated with the relevant government agencies in Nigeria
- The ability to scale and impact a large number of smallholder farmers, including recorded evidence of demonstrated impact on smallholder farmers’ revenue or operations
- The potential for job creation and poverty reduction
- Alignment with relevant national policies and international treaties (e.g. SDGs)
- An identifiable technological innovation that addresses the following problems for smallholder farmers:
- Smallholder farmer productivity
- Smallholder farmer income
- Labour intensiveness of operations
- Resilience
- Access to information
- Strong competitive advantage
How to apply
The application period will be open from 17 August to 16 September, 2022, by 5pm WAT.
NOTE: You are required to follow us on social media @heifernigeria and @AyuteAfrica
This application form can be accessed in two ways: Web and App.
To access the form, follow the links provided below.
Web: https://cutt.ly/AyuteChallenge
App: https://cutt.ly/AyuteChallengeApp
Applicants will receive a confirmation message for their application after submission by email/SMS.
Any queries? Please contact info@enactus.org.ng
Source: https://vc4a.com/heifer-international/ayute-nigeria/