By Taigu Muchiri and Shadrack Lomoywara

The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) in partnership with the Global Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship (GAME) and the United Nation’s SDG Partnership Platform are organizing the 2019 Agripreneurs Congress that will convene at USIU-Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) on June 6-7, 2019.

The two-day gathering seeks to enhance sustainable collaboration and sharing of knowledge among key players in the agribusiness arena. The theme of the conference “Catalyzing Social Investment for Youth Focused Agribiz” is banking on youth participation in the agricultural sector which could hold the key to many challenges facing the youth such as high rates of youth unemployment. These challenges can only be resolved if there is intentional positioning of youth at the forefront of agribusiness opportunities and strategic investment to help modernize and grow the sector. The congress will provide an exciting platform and opportunity for development partners, philanthropists, researchers, policy makers, civil society, youth groups and corporate entities to shed light on this topic and resolve to find innovative solutions that will help the youth of Africa actively engage in and drive this sector.

The discussions will be spearheaded by officials from Kenya’s National and County Governments, representatives from international and national NGOs, representatives from the United Nation’s SDG Partnership Platform, social impact investors, fund managers, philanthropists, agribusiness practitioners, partners of AVPA and members from AVPA’s partner networks in Europe and Asia, captains of industry as well as friends, students and alumni of USIU-Africa.

The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, Pan-African network for social investors who are dedicated to building a vibrant and high impact social investment community across Africa. The USIU-Africa’s GAME Center aims at improving management and leadership capacity at small scale agribusiness entrepreneurs and leaders of producer organizations including youth, farmers and farmer associations. The Center focuses on enhancing the innovation and analytical skills of these change agents, market oriented skills, improving efficiency and effectiveness, improving productivity within the agricultural market systems and providing information to increase the quality and productivity of the agricultural sector.

For any enquiries/clarification, contact Anne Maina at amaina@avpa.africa or Salome Asena at sasena@usiu.ac.ke.