WIN 420K N INVEST

Kenya: For the last three months,
this page has featured innovative
and thought-provoking ideas aimed
at creating job opportunities and
making Business Beat readers self-
reliant.
This week is no different. But there
is a twist. Most of the ideas have
required you to put up varying levels
of capital to get started, but today,
you stand to receive an investment.
Do you have an innovative
agribusiness idea with the potential
to make an impact on a national
level? Then you could get Sh430,000
to roll it out.
The GrowthHub, a business incubator
and accelerator for early start-ups,
is looking for 12 teams of
entrepreneurs with an agribusiness
idea. They will be incorporated into
a 16-week programme that will see
the five best business ideas turned
into companies. To be eligible, you
need a mature agribusiness idea, to
have proof of concept and have
achieved validation from your
targeted audiece, plan to work on
the idea full time, and are ready to
build a sound product or service and
pilot it.
The kind of business ideas being
looked for include those that
increase income generation for
farmers, increase value addition,
improve farmers’ access to
information or offer them financial
solutions.
It could also be something that makes
the uptake of farm outputs easier,
increases adoption of modern
farming practices, improves food
security or improves nutrition.
Farming projects with no value
addition are not eliglbe, so if you
only carry out farming or rearing,
you will not qualify.
GrowthHub will shortlist 12
entrepreneurs with the most
innovative business ideas. They will
join a four-month programme split
in three parts.
The first comprises eight sessions that
will run over four weeks. The
participants will be taken through
ImpactCompass, a framework
designed to guide them through the
fundamentals of transforming their
idea into a company.
The second part will be two weeks
long, with the teams guided through
market testing, prototyping and
pitching of their ideas to determine
who gets the Sh430,000.
The third part will run over 10 weeks
and help participants execute and
implement their idea.
Should you join the programme, you
stand a chance to benefit from seed
funding of up to Sh8.6 million. You
will also get access to successful
entrepreneurs, get an opportunity to
be mentored and build networks, and
receive training on scaling up your
service or product.
The deadline for applications is
January 26, with the programme
expected to start on February 17 and
end on May 23.
You have to apply online on
www.thegrowthhub.com/agribusiness.
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