Now Open: AYuTe Africa Challenge Nigeria Program for Early-stage Nigerian start-ups ($20,000 cash prize)

The AYuTe Africa Challenge Nigeria is a Heifer International-led enterprise development initiative that Wennovation Hub is implementing to find, foster, and assist innovative, relevant, and technology-driven agric-centric enterprises as they grow, expand, and prosper. The AYuTe Africa Challenge Nigeria is a business development program launched by Heifer International and managed by Wennovation Hub.

Candidates must be early-stage or growth-stage youth-led agritech businesses/companies with unique solutions that have a large impact on smallholder farmers.

Criteria for Eligibility. Candidates must:

Be between the ages of 18 and 35 on the last day for submissions to the AYuTe Nigeria competition.
Be a young person with creative ideas for the agriculture sector.
Have ideas that have been proved to alleviate societal problems and that are implementable, technically possible, economically sound (affordable), and environmentally friendly (eco-friendly).
Official ID (national identity card, foreign passport, or permanent voters’ card) proving Nigerian nationality
Create financial accounts for the venture Be the founder or co-founder of the enterprise represented in the competition and actively participate in its operations and leadership
Have no prior convictions for corruption, tax evasion, financial impropriety, crime, or other offenses.
Possibility of engagement and collaboration with other actors/stakeholders

The following are required for the company:

Registered/incorporated with the necessary Nigerian government agencies
The potential to scale and impact a large number of smallholder farmers, including documented evidence of impact on smallholder farmers’ revenue and/or operations.
Possibility of employment creation and poverty reduction
Alignment with appropriate national policies and international treaties (for example, the Sustainable Development Goals)
A distinct technological invention that tackles the following issues for smallholder farmers:
Productivity of smallholder farmers
Earnings of smallholder farmers
The labor intensity of operations
Resilience
Access to information provides a significant competitive edge.

Benefits

Applicants for the Challenge can expect to earn the following benefits:

Coaching and mentorship, tailored to the top five finalists, to help them translate their training into business implementation.
Technical assistance at various levels of the challenge to develop the MVP and the start-up’s commercial and financial model
Financial and investment options are linked here.
Opportunities to network and engage with investors and other stakeholders to exhibit your solution
The top three winners will receive cash prizes totaling $20,000:
The prize is $10,000.
First Place: $6,000
Second Place: $4,000

Timeline

The application period will last from July 17th to July 31st.
The top-10 agritech innovators will then be identified, and the top-5 agritech innovators will be identified in the second stage.
At a pitch and awards presentation, the top three businesses will be awarded cash prizes.
Application Materials

Please have the following materials ready before beginning your registration:

Any National Official ID (national identity card, foreign passport, driver’s license, or temporary/permanent voters’ card) in soft copy
A crisp headshot photo in soft copy. For More Information: Visit the Official Webpage of the AYuTe Africa Challenge Nigeria Program 2023. Deadline: 31st July 2023