Agribusiness firm, JR Farms in collaboration with Generation Africa and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has launched the ‘Green Agribusiness Fund’ to nurture youths in agribusiness.
The scheme, launched in Nigeria and Rwanda, is targeted at upscaling agribusinesses and ensuring food security in the continent.
With the pilot phase of the fund worth $30,000, six youths from Nigeria and Rwanda would be provided equity funding of $5,000 each, to provide solutions to their business needs, ranging from raw materials to machines and packaging materials.
CEO of JR Farms, Rotimi Olawale, noted that the aim of the scheme was to address the challenges preventing youths from attaining agricultural productivity.
According to him, the scheme would tackle issues such as limited access to finance, poverty, the labor crisis, rural-urban migration, and poor standards of living.
GAF will focus on important aspects of agriculture such as post-harvest losses, climate-smart farming, urban farming, seed and soil improvement, access to markets, agritech, precision farming, and agrocommodity trading, the CEO added.
He said, “The fund is designed to invest in agribusiness initiatives and companies that are deemed socially responsible in their business dealings in various parts of Africa.
“These businesses must be owned by young Africans who are living in Africa. The focus is to raise the next generation of agric entrepreneurs that will lead to great initiatives in agriculture and position agriculture in Africa on the path of decent jobs creation, food security, and improved living standards.”
Olawale further stated that the GAF initiative will also provide business mentorship for its beneficiaries.
The scheme will address the challenges bedeviling youth agripreneurs in terms of access to loans, he said, assuring that it will deliver value to all stakeholders, without degrading economic, social, and natural capital.
