The Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) has opened nationwide applications for the 2023 Vijana na AgriBiz Competition which aims to fund youth and women with innovative commercially viable ideas in agribusiness.

According to a statement by KCIC, “The competition aims to tackle barriers that prevent youths from harnessing the vast potential within the agricultural sector. It will also provide comprehensive support across the agricultural value chain, encompassing inputs, production, suppliers, and end consumers in traditional agriculture, fisheries, and livestock.

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The competition’s goals include fostering innovation in both agricultural practices and agribusiness, empowering local youth entrepreneurs, cultivating a culture of innovative entrepreneurship in agribusiness, increasing awareness of innovative approaches on a global scale, establishing market connections, facilitating scaling opportunities, and identifying and assisting high-growth entrepreneurs poised to drive economic growth.”

The European Union and Royal Danish Embassy-funded project aims to provide resources and empower entrepreneurs to develop and scale their businesses. This will create jobs and contribute to Kenya’s agriculture sustainable growth.

Competition Rules

1. Open to young Kenyan entrepreneurs aged 18-35. 
2. Focused on agribusiness ideas or prototypes to be established within Kenya. 
3. The idea should be focused on agriculture, livestock, or fisheries value chains
4. Can cover various facets of the agriculture value chain– inputs, processing, production, transportation, marketing, and/or aggregation.

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Winner Grants

• The competition’s top 20 winners will be accepted into the AgriBiz program, and receive conditional grants to invest in their business ideas. 

• The ultimate winner will be granted a cash prize of Sh1 million, second place will receive Sh750,000, and the third-placed Sh500,000. 

• Successful participants will also be given the chance to participate in boot camps, investor readiness workshops, and a 1-year incubation program as part of the AgriBiz initiative.

Eligibility criteria and application can be found here

The application process is online and should be filed before 15th September 2023 at 11:59 pm E. A time. 

It can be filed either in English or Swahili. 

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For further inquiries: agribiz@kenyacic.org