ABIC Start up

Business Ideas Competition for the Agro-Industry and Allied Sectors (ABIC )

One of the most important features the development of Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks (IAIPs) is the promotion of entrepreneurship and businesses allied to the agro-industry sector. IAIPs promote the specialization and growth of innovative businesses while fostering rural jobs creation and generating important off-farm employment opportunities for women and men. An agro-industrial topic-oriented which is Agro Business Idea Competition 2021 (ABIC 2021) will be implemented in our University and students will be asked and guided to base their idea development on the identified business needs and gaps in this sector. Students are expected to come up with specific businesses solutions relying on the following general agro-industrial related topics such as:

·         Agro-logistics logistics of agricultural inputs to and from the parks (particularly in the cold-chain)

·         Post-harvest management technologies

·         Maintenance of electrical and mechanical machine parts

·         Packaging materials production or supply

·         Consultancy services on sales and distribution of agro-processed products etc.

The Agro Business Ideas Competition 2021 will allow collecting a wide range of applications on possible business solutions for the identified business gaps in the agro-industrial sector.

As per the initiative and appropriate inquiry of the STEP –GIZ, Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU), has planned to organize the Agro-processing Business Ideas Competition 2021 for the Agro-industry and allied sectors with the objective of fostering the entrepreneurial skills of the Ethiopian youth and introduce self-employment opportunities to university graduates, through linkage of students’ business ideas to the needs of the agro-industry.

Eligibility and Target Group 

The competition will target graduate students’ of 2020 academic year of ASTU. The graduate students will finalize their final exams on December 5 and graduated on 19th of December this year. Interested students are expected to send their application until their date of graduation and selection will be made until December 21st.

Program Procedure

To successfully conduct the program, the program will be rolled out in six phases which are outlined below.

Phase 1: Promotion

During this Phase EDC-ASTU will conduct outreach promotion campaigns to create awareness about the competition and incubation for a large number of students from different background and help to get the required number and quality applications.  The promotion campaigns will be conducted through university outlets such as website, campus information board, campus digital board, printed materials such as information leaflets, social networks (Facebook, Telegram and Instagram), Students mailing lists, etc.

During this phase, the applicants must complete and submit the motivational/application form which will be provided in hard or soft copies. The completed form must be returned to the EDC-ASTU before the deadline.

Phase 2: Collection of Applications and pre-selection of Applications

Interested students can prepare their motivation letters about their rough business idea and apply through the ibicoo website. They can apply either in individually or in group of 4/5. The pre-selection will be done through the ibicoo website by internal judges from the universities and GIZ. Hence, based on a certain criterion, students who developed the most promising and/or innovative business ideas will get pre-selected for a minimum of about 50 students. Those who have submitted their business ideas individually will be asked to either choose to team-up with other students with similar ideas. To get the required number of good business ideas, we will consider all graduating students from all Engineering Schools and School of Applied Natural Sciences to participate in the competition. A special focus will be given to increase the participation of women students in the competition. For this, we will work in collaboration with the Female Innovation Support (FIS) group and organize a FIS competition in parallel. Hence, of the 50 pre-selected ideas, a minimum of 50% of ideas are expected to come through the FIS competition.

Phase-3: Training

Up to 6 days of Entrepreneurship and idea development trainings will parallelly be given to both TBIC and FIS participants. This training will be delivered between December and January 2021 by experienced national and international trainers and technical experts in the selected topics. This training will help participants to develop their entrepreneurial mindsets and to further improve the relevance of their business ideas to the agro-processing industry. At the end of the training individuals/groups will be asked to present their ideas. Based on their presentation and the relevance of their business ideas to solving the underlying challenges of the agro-industrial sector, one or more groups will be selected for the pre-incubation and coaching in the University incubation Centres. To increase the relevance of this competition, all participants of the training including those who did not pass to the next round will receive certificate of participation.

Phase 4: Pre-Incubation and coaching  

The selected groups/ individuals’ after the training will be awarded incubation supports in ASTU incubation centre for a maximum of 3 Months. In the incubation center, start-ups will be assisted by technical and business coaches/mentors. They will get working spaces, develop prototypes and test their product and services. Industries/businesses to which students are proposing solutions for may also be invited to follow-up and support incubates and give them guidance in their prototype developments. In addition, a 1-day exposure visit to IAIPs will be organized to allow students get practical impressions of the agro-industrial sector, and finally pitch trainings will be given by potential national and international trainers/support organizations to help the finalists prepare for their final national competition.

Phase-5 Final Selection

At the end of the incubation process, incubates are expected to send their updated business plans through the ibicoo website and prototypes and will be judged by external judges (e.g. JCC, Industry). Individual Universities can also award their winning teams.

Phase 6: National Competition in Addis Ababa

Eventually, 5 best groups will be selected among all universities and a national level panel will be organized for the final competition. In the final event, potential investors, financial institutions, government officials, and partner organizations will be invited to open opportunities for the applicants and foster a networking environment. The different teams will pitch their business ideas to the jury. The finalists will be judged by a panel composed by representatives of private sectors (e.g. company owners), Entrepreneurship training providers, and Regional Industrial Park Development Corporations (IPDCs), incubators, donors who may give seed money awards, and other supporters that will be on-boarded in the coming months. The moderation will be done by ASTU and GIZ representatives. The best business plans will be selected and linked to private incubators for further incubation supports or potentially selected by investment funds and NGOs in the panel to join their organization for support and development of prototypes. The criteria for the final selection of business ideas will comprise the general aspects of the product/service including bankability and market potential, technical and financial feasibility and resources needed to create the value as well as team excellence and competences.