Heifer International has established a national ‘AYuTe Challenge,’ a competition that will give young Ugandan entrepreneurs the chance to propose investments for agritech solutions that would help Africa’s smallholder farmers increase their incomes and productivity. The competition is a new phase of Heifer International’s AYuTe Africa Challenge, which was launched in 2021 to provide cash grants to Africa’s most outstanding young agritech innovators.
Uganda has a high literacy rate of 76.53% and is one of the world’s youngest populations, which bodes well for the AYuTe Africa Challenge’s success.
“We believe that agriculture and technology are the future for Africa and agri-technology is for the youth,” said senior vice president of Africa programmes at Heifer International, Adesuwa Ifedi. “This competition provides an opportunity for young innovators in Uganda to secure the funding and visibility they need to scale up their agritech solutions to reach millions of farmers across Africa.”
The AYuTe National Champions competition will provide cash and mentorship to enable young Ugandan agritech innovators translate their enthusiasm and ideas into substantial effect for smallholder farmers across the country, as well as help winners expand their businesses and visibility.
How can you enter the competition?
Step 1: Create a two-minute video in MP4 format with clear audio in which you introduce yourself and demonstrate how your innovation works, what problem it seeks to solve, how it can potentially translate into meaningful impact for smallholder farmers across the country, and how much money you’ll need to make it a reality.
Step 2: Either upload your two-minute-long video or share it on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #AYuTeChallengeUg, tagging Heifer International Uganda. Alternatively, you can email your video to +256 (0) 781 608488 on WhatsApp. The call for entries for the AYuTe Africa Competition Uganda Edition will be open from June 16th to July 14th, 2022.
Step 3: The most qualified applications will be chosen to participate in a televised pitching show, which will be broadcast on NTV.
The winners will receive around UGX100 million in prize money. The overall winner of The AYuTe Africa Challenge Uganda Champion will receive UGX50 million, while the first and second-place finishers will receive UGX30 million and UGX15 million, respectively. Heifer International will also award two consolation prizes totalling UGX2.5 million.
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