Bukavu Youth Agripreneurs (BYA)

Bukavu Youth Agripreneurs enterprise was started by graduates from different universities and academic disciplines. The enterprise is located in Bukavu City, South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After attending a training in agribusiness at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), we developed the passion for agricultural entrepreneurship and we exploited the available opportunities in each value chain.

During the training at IITA, some of the youths were sent to other countries like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Benin, Ghana, Brazil, etc., to learn more about the concepts of agricultural entrepreneurship and farm business management and to train other trainers of the youth graduates in Africa.

Nearly 70 per cent of the Congolese population is made up of young people, of whom more than 70% are unemployed. Since youth unemployment is a problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Africa as a whole. Therefore, Bukavu Youth Agripreneurs (BYA) enterprise aims to set up viable businesses that can take advantage of the opportunities in the agricultural value chain to fight unemployment among the youths and women.

Bukavu Youth Agripreneurs enterprise works to enhance the opportunities in the agricultural value chain through the production, processing, and marketing of cassava, maize, and soybean. The enterprise also deals in fish farming and chicken rearing among others and it provides agricultural related services such as, capacity building services, veterinary and technical support to ensure self-reliance among the farmers.

Specifically, Bukavu Youth Agripreneurs enterprise seeks to have better quality local products, stimulate production at large-scale and supply raw materials to processing industries, bring agrifood products to the local markets and respond to hygienic and environmental standards to ensure good health of the people in Bukavu. We also encourage more youth to invest in agricultural entrepreneurship through offering capacity building sessions to enable them generate income and thus fight against unemployment. We offer different agrifood and agro-veterinary services to diversify sources of income and reach more youth and women in entrepreneurial activity.

Our vision is to increase our production capacity and income by 2025 and become the leading agribusiness training enterprise in the province and in DRC at large. Our mission is to encourage the establishment of other agricultural enterprises in the region through training.

We are grateful to the RUFORUM FAPA project for the training and mentorship.