Ignite 2020: Opportunity for Women in Agribusiness

Deadline: 20-Sep-20

This year COVID-19 has shaped Ignite 2020 an Agribusiness solution designed to spark and inspire African Women Agribusiness Founders to be at the forefront of the sector. It nurtures and turns ground-breaking ideas into profitable and sustainable Agribusinesses.

Having realised that young women in Agribusiness find it difficult to scale due to factors like inadequate technical know-how, market access limitation and a lack of mentorship, Guzakuza has started Ignite, an Agri-business accelerator model for African young women in Agribusiness.

Theme

The theme for Ignite 2020 is Amplify!

Phases

Ignite Within: Online Mirroring

• Ignite Within is their Online Self Development Support. They see a burning desire in their participants to make a dent in the society. This desire is illuminated and guided by this structured online assessment program seeking to help participants discover themselves, gifts, talents, as well as hidden biases and beliefs that could be getting in the way of succeeding in business.
  • Their online support puts the mirror right in front of the participants to assess self and discover greatness.
  • Ignite Within is the first phase of Ignite 2019 and starts from the 17 th to 31st October.
• Ignite for Change: Residential  training, Coaching
  • Ignite believes one of the best ways to learn, is to stay away from all forms of distraction. As such, their participants stay in a residence for three (3) weeks and during this period, they get the space and time to develop exponentially thought training, coaching and networking.
    • Coaching: Ignite’s coaching focuses on specific tasks and objectives with weekly deliverables. This impactful journey runs concurrently with the residential training.Coaches are big sisters who are successfully running their Agribusinesses. They hand-hold the Ignitees during this phase.
    • Networking: They know it’s hard to build a successful business and it’s even harder if one is not plugged into a community of people that can make positive impact on one’s business. They therefore create platforms for Ignitees to meet potential business partners, investors, donors, clients and other major stakeholders.
    • Mobilize to Ignite: This is a platform for Ignitees to raise funds and friends for their businesses. It is very good to acquire all the necessary skills to start a business but it is also important to get capital to work with. Here, Ignitees mobilise resources to scale up their businesses.
  • This phase is from 18th November to 10th December.
• Reach to Ignite: Internship
  • Reach to Ignite is a tailor- made work experience embedded into the residential phase. Their  internship can be likened to an apprenticeship where participants go through a one-week on-the-job training with partner organizations.
  • Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will not be internship this year. However, they would make sure Igniters benefit from all areas.
• Tap to Ignite: Mentorship
  • Tap to Ignite- Mentoring is a six month virtual journey between a mentor and an Ignitee. Mentors are highly experienced professionals.The mentor assists the Ignitee in developing knowledge and skills that enhance her personal and business growth.
  • This amazing last phase is from January 08 to June 30, 2021.

Benefits

Ignite 2020 provides:

• Virtual Trainings
• Business Simulations
• Coaching
• Mentoring
• Funding
• A Community of Inspires and Amplifiers

Eligibility Criteria

An Igniter:

• has fire in the belly
• is an African Woman in Agribusiness under 40 years (Ignite 2020 is open to 40+ with impactful Agribusinesses)
• is available to commit 8 months to the programme
• transforms ideas

For more information, visit https://guzakuza.org/ignite/