Uganda hosts first-ever Africa agribusiness incubation conference

Uganda will today (Wednesday) host the first-ever Africa Agribusiness incubation conference.

The two-day conference is organized by the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) in partnership with African Agribusiness Incubation Network (AAIN), taking over, from Senegal which hosted in 2018.

The Agribusiness Incubation conference comes after UIRI was recognized among the best public incubators in Africa. Uganda was consequently voted by the delegates in Africa and globally to host the 2020 conference.

The theme of the conference and expo this year is "inclusive finance and investment models for youths and women in agribusiness trade in Africa".
The conference will provide an opportunity for incubators and accelerators that support youths and women that are joining the business sector.

Speaking during a press briefing that took place on Wednesday at UIRI, Namanve Industrial Park in Kampala, Prof Charles Kwesiga, Executive Director UIRI said they will discuss future strategies that will sustain business development in Uganda.

"Uganda is the most entrepreneurial country in the world that develops a lot of companies more than anywhere else but, sadly, the mortality rate of those companies are also among the highest in the world. We must change that and adopt a mechanism like business incubation and demonstrate how it can be done better," he said.

Business incubation is defined as the process of helping new and startup companies to develop by providing support and services such as management, training and nurturing until the point where they can be self-sustaining.

Kwesiga, further stated that such a conference is important for Africa because a lot of businesses get started but they don't see their third birthday and it is through incubation process that this problem can be addressed.

Dr Alex Ariho, Chief Executive Officer, African Agribusiness Incubators Network (AAIN) also noted that the conference will address the main challenge of sustainability in business.

"For your business to be successful in this era, you need to interface with research, science so, this opportunity connects interface between research institutions, universities, technology or technical institutions that are able to provide access to technology that is very appropriate to run a successful business," he explained

Ariho also added that "hosting this conference is not only important for UIRI but for Ugandans and Africa as well.  

"Uganda is looking forward to using incubation as a model to deliver particularly on the African Union agenda 2063," he alluded.

The African Union department of agriculture and rural economy and African Development Bank (ADF) will also be part of the conference.

He urged Ugandans and other people globally to be part of the interaction since they seek to harness opportunities for investment, market for products and services, public-private sectors partnership to support incubation agenda in Africa.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) state of the world population (2018), Africa's contribution to global population is expected to grow from 17% in 2017 to 26% in 2050.

The world Bank 2013 report projects the agribusiness sector to grow to a 1trillion dollar industry in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by 2030 (compares to US$313 billion dollars in 2010)

On the other hand, by the year 2019, the ten youngest countries in the world were in Africa and each year 10-12m young people enter into the continent's job market, of which only 3m are absorbed.