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Alex Muli, CEO and Co-Founder of Goshen Farm emerged the winner at the youth  AgriPitch competition, organized by the African Development Bank in partnership with the Western Cape Government in South Africa. Goshen farms which was founded in 2011 exports Kenyan fresh fruits and vegetables.

Alex won the award for best agribusiness in the mature start-up category which had  prize money of Ksh. 2.5 Million. Paul Sheppard, from South Africa, Co-Founder of Future Farms, took the $10,000 prize for the early start-up category. Paul specializes in the design, provision and management of indoor and outdoor hydroponic systems.

The 2019 youth AgriPitch Competition themed “Climate Smart Agriculture: Business and Employment Opportunities for Africa’s Youth” took place in Cape Town, South Africa from 24th to 28th June 2019. Over 400 agribusiness proposals from across the continent participated in the AYAF competition, which culminated in an award gala dinner, where six winners from the two categories received a total of Ksh. 7,400,000.

This AgriPitch Competition was part of a larger forum, the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum (AYAF) an annual forum of the African Development Bank’s flagship, Enable Youth Program, which focuses on youth employment and food insecurity.

The forum provided a platform for youth agripreneurs and key stakeholders to brainstorm with experts, business leaders, investors and policy makers on issues that affect youth employment and key solutions to addressing these. It also served as a call to action to support innovative agriculture growth through intense engagement and mentorship for small and medium enterprises, and emphasized that with greater support and opportunities to set up their agribusiness enterprise, youth can become the driving force of Africa’s agriculture transformation.

Alex Muli had this to say, “The boot camp was a great learning experience for me and helped me to know how to better tell the story about my business. I was humbled to meet fellow agripeneurs from other African countries who are doing great stuff out there hence rewriting our continent’s story, a story of hope, transformation and sustainability by young Africans for Africa.“