Deadline: 15 April 2020

Applications are now open for the fourth round of The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) Young African Entrepreneurs Competition. The competition aims to promote business innovation through entrepreneurship and provide seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas to be valorised and enhance and foster a spirit of entrepreneurship among African youth.The awards will be made in Cotonou, Benin during the RUFORUM Triennial Conference in December, 2021.

1. Benefits

• Seed funding to young entrepreneurs through a transparent and competitive process.
• Be part of a platform for young entrepreneurs to demonstrate your impact and pitch your business with investors and stakeholders through capacity building opportunity.
• Be part of a network of young entrepreneurs across Africa working together and sharing experiences that escalate youth contribution and job creation in Africa.
• Opportunity to showcase your innovations, enterprises, business concepts and propositions.

2. Eligibility

Enterprises and individuals that meet the following eligibility criteria are invited to apply:

• Persons with an established business enterprise and/or those with innovations that can potentially be commercialized and/or those with business concepts
• Participants must be between the ages 16-34years
• Submissions should be in English or French usingthe template provided.
• Be from and residing in any of the African Countries
• Please, note that all the 2016, 2018, and 2019 RUYAEC Awardees are not eligible to apply

3. Award Categories

RUFORUM targets to provide 20 awards to young innovators and entrepreneurs in the following fields:

• Food and agribusiness,
• Incubations,
• ICTs, Health,
• Engineering,
• Natural resources and
• Meteorology, among others.

4. How to apply

Applicants should download the application form from RUFORUM website, fill it and upload online 

For more information, please read the official call . You can also visit a RUYAEC Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs) webpage

For any enquiry, please contact: Dr. Egeru Anthony ([email protected]) and Dr. Sylvanus Mensah ([email protected])  

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), is one of the largest university network, with 129 African Universities in 38 African countries.