The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is pleased to announce the 22 winners of the 2021 RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition. The competition attracted 340 applications from 26 countries in Africa namely Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somali, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
The following three-stage process was undertaken to identify the top 22 winners:
- All 340 applications were reviewed for compliance to the call guidelines
- A total of 319 (93.9%) applications were compliant and were each evaluated by three independent assessors
- Top 22 applications were selected basing on mean scores from the three independent evaluators.
The final list of the top 22 successful winners from nine countries across Africa are presented in the Table below.
RUFORUM believes in the transformative power of entrepreneurship in addressing youth unemployment in Africa. Empowering and involving young people in enterprise development will support youth integration into the economic growth for youth employment. The twenty (20) competitively selected business enterprises will receive an all-expense paid trip (air ticket, and hotel costs) to participate and pitch their innovations during the 7th Africa Higher Education Week slated for 6-10 December 2021, Cotonou, Benin.
The call for applications was open to applicants from across Africa. The first competition which was organized in 2016 attracted a total of 756 applications from 38 countries. The fifteen (15) most competitive youth enterprises were awarded during the Fifth Africa Higher Education Week and RUFORUM Biennial Conference that was held in Cape Town, South Africa. The second competition was organized in 2018, and it attracted a total of 1,332 youth from 42 African countries and 23 competitive youth enterprises were awarded during the Sixth Africa Higher Education Week and RUFORUM Biennial Conference that was held in Nairobi, Kenya.
RUFORUM extends its appreciation to all applicants for responding to the RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs 2021 Competition and to the reviewers.
Top 22 winners of the RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition 2021 ranked by Scores
| N° | Names | Gender | Country |
| 1 | Ghislain Irakoze | M | Rwanda |
| 2 | Abdul Gafaru Dasana Amin | M | Ghana |
| 3 | Mulanga Jacques Baruani | M | DR Congo |
| 4 | Nahurira Hillary | M | Uganda |
| 5 | Costantine Edward Herman | M | Tanzania |
| 6 | Dorah Momanyi | F | Kenya |
| 7 | Kisaakye Jovia | F | Uganda |
| 8 | Samuel Mwangi | M | Kenya |
| 9 | Grace Nyokabi Kimani | F | Kenya |
| 10 | Boby Ogwang | M | Uganda |
| 11 | Ntirenganya Elie | M | Rwanda |
| 12 | Damilola Aminat Adeyemi | F | Nigeria |
| 13 | Nshimirimana Evariste | M | Burundi |
| 14 | Kihumuro Wilbur John | M | Uganda |
| 15 | Matiedje Nkenmayi Gislaine | F | Cameroon |
| 16 | Marion Nyangoma | F | Uganda |
| 17 | Akwo Ashangndowah | M | Cameroon |
| 18 | Esther Wanjiku Kimani | F | Kenya |
| 19 | Adaeze Akpagbula | F | Nigeria |
| 20 | Birabwa Brooks Rhona | F | Uganda |
| 21 | Badedji Rodrigue Landry | M | Benin |
| 22 | Malieh Maxime | M | Cameroon |
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