Are you an SME in Nigeria or Benin, active in the agri & food sector and struggling with issues related to storing, processing, cleaning, grading, handling or transporting of (processed) agricultural products? Join the Food Connection Challenge!
Application is currently for the Food Connection Challenge. The Food Connection Challenge is an initiative of BoP Innovation Center and Crosswise Works supported by the Dutch Ministry of and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture. Two separate challenges take place simultaneously in Nigeria and Benin.
This year the Food Connection Challenge is calling upon SMEs in Nigeria and Benin to submit their innovative ideas to reduce post – harvest losses. Successful applicants will benefit from workshops, training sessions, innovation jams and remote coaching to improve their ideas and turn them into a business plan that is ready to be implemented. The best plans will be pitched at a final event.
Eventual winners will receive matching funding from the Post-harvest Network to realize their plans, up to a maximum of €20,000.
Eligibility criteria
- Your enterprise is formally registered in Nigeria
- Your enterprise is an ‘SME’: a company with less than 250 employees
- Your enterprise exists for at least 2 years and has a minimum turnover of 5.000,00 euros per year
- Your enterprise is producing food products and/or provides services to a food value chain in Nigeria
- The food value chain your enterprise is participating in/offering services to provides food for the Nigerian market or its neighboring countries
- The enterprise has identified one person who will participate on behalf of the enterprise
- The participant is able to travel to and be present in Ibadan and/or Lagos during the events of the Food Connection Challenge
- The application provides enough concrete information to make a qualitative evaluation possible
Ready for the challenge?
- From April 9th – May 18 th 2018: Register online
- June: Selection of participants by an independent committee
- July: Participants receive a 3 – day business training
- September: 1 – day innovation session to improve business cases
- September / October: Participants work on their ideas through (remote) coaching
- November / December: Participants receive a pitch training
- December: The grand finale, where participants present their ideas and winners are selected
Additional Resources
- Fact sheet Food Connection Challenge – Post harvest losses in Nigeria
- Selection criteria and selection process
- Frequently Asked Questions
Application closes on 18 May, 2018.
Interested persons can click here for application.
For more information on the challenge in Nigeria, contact Alexander Bongers (alexander@crosswiseworks.nl), and for the challenge in Benin, contact Sedjro Mensah (mensah@bopinc.org).
