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The Start Them Early Program is a new initiative at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, (IITA). It operates under the Youth in Agribusiness office with a focus on how to advance agribusiness development to secondary schools in Africa. It is aimed at redirecting the aspirations of young people in […]

The IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) team in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in collaboration with the government of the DRC through the Projet Integré de Croissance Agricole dans Les Grands Lacs, (PICAGL) project, on January 29th, organized an innovation and entrepreneurship competition titled “An Evening with Youth in Entrepreneurship[…..]

Dr. Nteranya Sanginga is the first African director-general of the world-renowned International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the father of Agripreneurship. He was born in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His passion for young people made him founding father of the Youth in Agribusiness (YIA) programme, which[…..]

The Youth Employment in Agribusiness and Sustainable Agriculture (YEASA) Project has awarded grants to the youth they trained in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin for the first year of the project, as part of its mandate. The Project, which was launched in July 2019, is set to empower a[…..]

The International Youth Day (IYD) is observed annually on the 12th of August and it is endorsed by the United Nations to draw the attention of governments and other concerned institutions to pressing challenges of youths worldwide. The program was first launched in 2000. Every year since its inception, a[…..]

The IITA Youth Agripreneurs program has won the 2019 International Innovation Award for sustainable food and Agriculture in recognition of its commitment to improving both agribusiness opportunities and creditworthiness of youth across Africa. The award, the first of its kind, funded by the Government of Switzerland, was presented during the[…..]

Jennifer Blanke, the Vice President, Agriculture, Human, and Social Development at the African Development Bank (AfDB) have stated that youth engagement in agribusiness is the future for employment opportunities across Africa. Ms. Blanke stated this on Tuesday, March 26 when she visited the IITA Youth Agripreneurs group at the IITA[…..]

A trainee of the IITA Youth Agripreneurs, Edmond Ng’walago has emerged as the winner of the 2018 Young Graduate Entrepreneurship award organized by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in collaboration with the National Empowerment Economic Council in Tanzania. Edmond who was selected among 987 young people who applied for the award[…..]

IITA Youth in Agribusiness program was recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization as one of the twenty innovations in FAO’s first symposium for family members in Rome between 21st and 23rd November and was requested to display at the fair. The success stories displayed were centred around four key[…..]

Rita is an accountant by training but has lots of passion for agriculture. She approached her parents after her studies at the University that she wanted to venture into agriculture but she was discouraged and was advised to search for white collar jobs.  Rita was not ready for any limitation[…..]

As Cameroon implements the ENABLE Youth program in the country, about thirty-two people have been trained to take up the responsibility of Coordinators of Youth Agribusiness Incubation Center (YABIC). The training titled “Boosting Africa’s agriculture to master the future, make it happen” was organized in partnership with the Agricultural Value[…..]

IITA Youth Agripreneurs is exploring areas of partnership with the Oluponna Fish Farming and Resource Centre (OFFERCentre) in Iwo Osun State on youth empowerment along the agricultural value chain. To foster the partnership, the Director General of IITA, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga and the team of agripreneurs visited the OFFERCentre on[…..]

As part of the preparation for the pilot phase of the ENABLE Youth Program in Cote d’Ivoire, about twenty young people selected for the pilot phase of the project visited IITA for orientation exercise with the IITA Youth Agripreneurs. The youth who were exposed to some of the technologies of[…..]

IYA is giving more youth the opportunity to venture into agribusiness by providing trainings along the value chains of agricultural commodities. The training organized under the ENABLE-TAAT platform focused on cassava production and commercialization for unemployed young graduates who are willing to venture into the production of the commodities.  […..]

The ENABLE TAAT project is supporting the establishment of twenty three more independent agribusiness enterprises. The owners of the businesses were given the opportunity to pitch their business ideas before a team of experts from Ekimiks Nigeria Limited at the ENABLE TAAT Implementation workshop held in Nairobi between 20 to[…..]

The US Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Stuart Symington, accompanied by the Political and Economic Officer from the office of the US Consulate, General Benjamin Williams, paid a courtesy visit to IITA on 28 August to meet the IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) and learn more about the progress of the Youth-in-Agribusiness initiative.[…..]

A commercial bank in Nigeria, Sterling Bank Plc is exploring areas of partnership with IITA on an agribusiness financing loan scheme for “Agripreneurs” who have been trained and mentored by the Institute. The agribusiness financing scheme known as the Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) is a voluntary initiative of the Bankers’[…..]