Application for Village Capital Agriculture Africa Program 2019 will close on June 28th, 2019, here is what you should know.
Program Overview
The Village Capital Agriculture Africa Program is aimed at helping agricultural entrepreneurs in Africa to address some challenges they face , through raising innovators that will have the potential to raise productivity for small farmers and food security, improve and secure the value chain, and strengthen links to markets, all while generating job growth and local economic development.
Partnership and Eligibility
Village Capital is launching its Africa Agriculture 2019 program with the support of Ceniarth and Small Foundation. Village Capital Africa Program welcomes ventures meeting any of the following criteria listed below to apply for the Africa Agriculture 2019 program by June 28, 2019.
- Women and youth-led enterprises,
- Enterprises that solve agri-value chain problems end-to-end (or come close),
- Enterprises that employ technology in delivering products and/or services,
- Ventures that work across multiple commodities,
- Companies that leverage social networks in delivering their product and services,
- Urban agriculture, aquaculture, and hardware businesses,
Ventures operating in all countries in Africa are welcome to apply.
What does the program have to offer?
Support through peer due diligence and constructive feedback
The program will select a cohort of 12 ventures, who will then participate in three 3 -day workshops that will take place between October 2019 and December 2019. Our award-winning curriculum encourages deep collaboration within the cohort and helps entrepreneurs explore and leverage business synergies among themselves.
Interactions with mentors, customers, and strategic partners
Early-stage startups need validation from customers as well as relationships with key partners in order to tailor solutions as they scale. We will streamline this process, helping startups connect and interact with:
- Leading investors, entrepreneurs, and other sector experts who will offer mentorship during workshops;
- Potential customers, partners, and other industry stakeholders, who will participate in business development sessions at the workshops;
The program will culminate in curated investor meetings with investors from our network for all companies in the cohort.
Eligibility criteria –
- At least one full-time team member based in the country of operation
- A minimum viable product
- Meaningful customer or business validation (not limited to revenue, can also be successful pilot studies, number of users, and/or strategic partnerships)
Applications open – June 3, 2019
Applications close – June 28 2019
Workshop 1 – October 8-11, 2019
Workshop 2 – December 3-6, 2019
Workshop 3 – January 14-17, 2020
Selected startups are required to have at least one C-level team member attend all three workshops, and Village Capital will bear flight and lodging costs for a team member to attend.
For more information about the program, please email adedana.ashebir@vilcap.com