Round 2: 2019 Agribusiness Business plan call

The Eastern African Farmers’ Federation (EAFF) is a regional farmers’ organization whose membership consists of 24 national farmer organizations organized either as cooperatives or commodity associations across 10 countries in Eastern Africa - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The main objective of EAFF is to voice the concerns and interests of farmers across the region to enhance their social-economic status and regional cohesiveness. EAFF is currently implementing the project scaling up rural youth access to inclusive financial services for entrepreneurship and employment which runs from Nov 2017 – Nov 2020 with support from IFAD.

EAFF realizes that it is difficult for youth to access financial services especially in agriculture to either start the agri enterprises or scale out agri enterprises. EAFF has conducted scoping studies on financial models that exist and pose an opportunity for youth to access such financial services. However, to reach the youth, EAFF is using the concept of floating annual calls for proposals for youth to apply. The first call for business plans was in 2018 and this is the second and last call within this project. The previous call managed to interest at least 6569 youth both men and women who are 35 years and below doing various agribusiness ventures. At least 6000 youths have been trained on business planning and some have been linked to either capacity building opportunities or financial services. Based on the above successes, EAFF sees an opportunity to further capacity build youth interested in agribusiness to ensure that youth participate effectively in agriculture as entrepreneurs. EAFF is therefore calling upon youth groups or individual youths in Agriculture or agribusiness related enterprises in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to apply for support to help them access

• Agribusiness planning training
• Agri-business incubation services/mentorship.
• Potential funders/ investors and other partnership opportunities.

The support is offered to both existing businesses and start-ups conducted by youths with an aim of offering employment.

The support cuts across all sectors of Agriculture and submission MUST be of innovative ideas in any of the following areas of Agribusiness:

• Production, marketing and processing of agricultural products
• Appropriate technology and innovations ready for scale up/commercialization e.g. ICT, irrigation, storage etc.
• Agricultural finance and agricultural services e.g. sprayer groups, planting groups, weeding groups etc.
• Aggregation, supply chain management and distribution
• Agriculture inputs (seeds, fertilizer, pesticide etc.)
• Business Development Service providers
• Cottage industry
• Any other relevant area

1. Eligibility for application

To apply for this call one must be

a) An individual who is 35 years or below living in Kenya, Uganda or Rwanda who either has a start-up or an existing agribusiness enterprise
b) A group of youth who are registered under the societies act and the membership should comprise of at least 70% youth. CBOS/FBOs are NOT eligible to apply for this call.
c) Must follow the guidelines as stipulated in section 3

NB : Start-up category are businesses that are 6 months and below and existing businesses are those who are over 6 months and have started recording cash flows.

2. Criteria for Evaluation of business plans

The business plans will be evaluated based on

o Innovativeness for the proposed intervention
o Suitability of the business model
o The potential number of youths reached
o Youth-owned enterprises will be given preference. Group dynamics should have at least 70% as youth members.
o Proven experience in agribusiness (production and marketing)

3. Application Format

The business plans MUST follow the following format before submission, any application that will not adhere to this format will NOT be evaluated:

• Cover page (Name of the enterprise and contact details and logo if any) (1 page)

• Executive summary: this should summarize the business and should capture a short explanation of the business, the business goals and objectives, the marketing prospects/marketing strategy and how much the business will be making over time up to a period of 7 years. (1page max)

• Business Description: please give a detailed explanation of the business it should include the business name, type of ownership, business address and contact information, vision statement and mission statement, goals and objectives, product/service being offered, background information of the business a SWOT analysis and a quick scan of the business environment. (3 pages max)

• Marketing plan: clearly show your market research findings and your market plan. Try and demonstrate the target client, customer needs, competition and pricing. Show the product differentiation within your business and how you intend to market your product. (2pages max)

• Operational plan: Short description of how the business will operate in terms of required assets, technologies, operational procedures and processes, quality assurance, monitoring and measuring hard and soft deliverables (1 page max)

• Management plan: Short description of how the business will be managed by the Management team, staffing and recruitment plan, Incentive and reward system, Time management, Remuneration, Governance, Capacity building plan.

• Financial plan: what or how much financial resources will be needed to start and or run and how these funds will be utilized Here, please show a small cash flow projection use the format below do this for the first 7 years.

• Risk analysis and contingency planning:
Contingency measures i.e. adding in buffer for expenses (contingency funds

• Appendices: please attach the following appendices
–  Resumes of the management team (just short biographies)
–  Letters of references
–  Copies of potential contracts (if any)
–  Business financial statement
–  Copies of existing loans
–  Registration certificates
–  List of members in excel disaggregated by gender and age and id number (signed by the chair/treasure or secretary of the group)

PLEASE NOTE: THE PROPOSAL SHOULD CLEARLY INDICATE THE COUNTRY OF OPERATION.

Important dates

This call shall be open for 4 weeks from 17th January – 13th February 2019.{{}}

NB : Eligible candidates should be from Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda
Send Applications to:

Where to send the business plans
Please send the business plans to:

EAFF SECRETARIAT
YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND YOUTH PROGRAM
P.O.BOX 13747 – 00800 NAIROBI
EMAIL: [email protected]

CC :
Business plans for Rwanda on : [email protected]

Published by
NYIRASAFARI DATIVA
COMMUNICATION OFFICER