The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a consortium of 147 Universities in 38 African Countries, is pleased to announce the call for 2022 RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC).
The overall purpose of the RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC) is to catalyse entrepreneurship through promotion of business innovation and provision of seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas among Southern Africa youth.
The call targets young entrepreneurs and incubates below 35 years of age to compete for 20 awards that show case their innovations, enterprises, business concepts and propositions.
This firth round of the RUFORUM Young Innovators Competition will be a regional competition and this particular call targets only Southern Africa countries. The awards will be made in Harare, Zimbabwe during the RUFORUM Annual General Meeting “AGM” slated for 12 to 16th December 2022.
Eligible Countries: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Purpose
The RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition primary purpose is to promote business innovation through entrepreneurship and provide seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas to be valorized and enhance and foster a spirit of entrepreneurship among African youth. The competition specifically seeks to:
Provide young entrepreneurs with opportunity to show-case their businesses and share their development as an inspiration to many young African potential entrepreneurs
Bring collective action towards provision of seed funding to young entrepreneurs through a transparent and competitive process.
Provide a platform for young entrepreneurs to demonstrate their impact and pitch their business with investors and stakeholders through capacity building opportunity.
Create a network of young entrepreneurs across Africa working together and sharing experiences that escalate youth contribution and job creation in Africa.
Target group
The challenge will target young people between 16-34 years.