CONCEPT NOTE

The Enable Youth Virtual Mentorship Platform

Introduction
Under the Feed Africa Strategy and the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy, the African
Development Bank is implementing the Enable Youth Program to address the youth
unemployment challenges in Africa and to demonstrate that with greater access to agribusiness
enterprise youth can become the driving force of agricultural transformation in Africa. The
goal of the Enable Youth program is to support African member countries to invest in youth in
the agribusiness sector. The Program has been implemented in 14 African countries
representing an investment of over $ 400 million over the past five years. The objective of the
program is to empower youth at each stage of the agribusiness value chain as “agripreneurs”
by harnessing new and innovative skills, technologies and financing approaches so that the
youth can establish viable and profitable agribusinesses. The program continues to seek to
engage as well as expose youth within the agribusiness sector to innovative and evolving
technologies and trends that can contribute to transforming African agriculture. One of the key
activities of the Enable Youth Program in this endeavor is the African Youth Agripreneur
Forum (AYAF), an annual event held since 2017 involving a weeklong AgriPitch Competition
and Conference.

Background/Context
The AYAF is an annual event of the African Development Bank’s Enable Youth Program
which attracts more than 200 participants every year from across the continent including youth
agripreneurs, agribusiness companies, investors, environmentalists, academia, development
partners and government agencies. The AgriPitch competition includes a three-day boot camp
where some pre-selected agripreneurs receive training on business models, marketing, the
innovation development process, business financing, etc. by coaches and mentors and through
Masterclasses.

The 4th edition of the AYAF and AgriPitch Competition was due to take place in May 2020
year but considering the unexpected events around COVID-19, the African Development Bank
has decided to hold it as a virtual event in November 2020. Due to this development, the Bank
is exploring different ways to provide innovative mentorship to these youth agripreneurs
through an Virtual platform.

The Enable Youth Virtual Mentorship Platform (EYOMP)

The Enable Youth Program has been conducting its mentorship program during and following
the Annual AYAF and AgriPitch Competition for the participants of the event. However, due
to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Program has had to become innovative and to establish
an virtual mentorship program. The objective of the Enable Virtual Mentorship Platform is to
provide an opportunity to formalize relationships between professional entrepreneurs/business
executives and youth agripreneurs associated with the Bank’s Enable Youth Program and other
youth empowerment programs within the Bank. The Enable Virtual Mentorship Platform will
offer a structured setting in which to develop beneficial one-to-one relationships between the

1
youth agripreneurs (mentees) and the professional entrepreneurs (mentors). Acting as a friend,
a teacher, and a guide to the real world, mentors can encourage and advise the youth by sharing
their own experiences and knowledge of the entrepreneurship business environment.

The online mentorship approach means that mentors and mentees in different locations now
have access to learn from each other. In addition, more individuals will participate in the
program resulting in a larger program and in a higher likelihood of great mentor/mentee
matches and providing a larger field of knowledge. Another benefit is that online mentoring
allows for flexible meeting times, which is convenient for busy schedules. This convenience
allows more people to participate in the program, spreading the benefits further. Additional
benefits are that mentoring relationships are not one-sided and knowledge transfer is from both
sides - both the mentee and the mentor are able to learn from each other. This provides
knowledge flow between different cultures and skill levels as well.

Objectives and Outcomes of the Enable virtual Mentorship Program

1. Promote the business case for responsible agriculture and entrepreneurship within the
framework of COVID 19 crisis to a growing force of young entrepreneurs;
2. Provide mentoring support to address agripreneurs’ specific needs along the value
chain;
3. Enhance the investment readiness of agripreneurs through an intensive coaching and
mentoring and ensure their pitches are investor ready;
4. Create youth business linkages with experienced mentors willing to share their
knowledge and advice through networking and collaboration;
5. Sustain the growing network of agripreneurs as a platform for interaction, mentorship,
training and business development;
6. Promote best practice ideas of agripreneurs on business sustainability especially in
these times in order to scale-up across the continent (transfer of technology and skills);
7. Showcase the ingenuity of young African agripreneurs to compete globally, while
motivating other African youth to aspire and seize opportunities in agribusiness.

Eligibility and requirements

For Mentees

 Be an alumnus from a previous AgriPitch competitions cohort of either the 2017, 2018
and 2019 or other Enable Youth activity.
 Lead an Agriculture related business based in Africa with above 2 years of existing
market traction: technology, product, service, etc., already on the market.
 Be between 18-35 years old
 Must have a clear investment ask and growth plan/strategy.

2
  Must be a registered corporate entity.
 Be committed to taking the initiative in a mentoring relationship, including outlining
personal and professional goals for the program
 Willing and able to meet with your mentor online for about two hours a month
(minimum; meetings may be more frequent or longer by mutual agreement)

For Mentors

 Be a dynamic professional with 5+ years of relevant experience in a thematic area or

soft skill, or youth with a thematic/skill interest
 Have engaged in start-up mentoring before (such as at an international conference,
during one-to-one meetings)
 Have already worked at a successful start-up or a globally known accelerator
 Willing and able to meet virtually for about two hours a month (minimum; meetings
may be more frequent or longer by mutual agreement) with mentee
 Motivated to support and guide mentees by sharing your experience and knowledge
and challenging mentees in their own goal-making and project
 Provide guidance, offer relevant advice and give feedback to the mentee
 Introduce the mentee to professional networks.

Areas of Mentorship

The Enable Youth Program is keen to create a network of mentors to support Agripreneurs
throughout the various business discipline across the Agriculture value chain ranging from
input supplies, production, agro-processing, logistics, marketing and sales, product
development, support services including financial management, ICTs, etc.

In line, with the upscaling of the start-ups, Mentors are also required to provide support in the
identification of private and public funding opportunities; guide the selection of funding
options; feedback on applications; facilitate contacts and networking opportunities. With the
expectation to have at the end of the program successful submission of applications to funding
instruments (SME Instrument and other funding sources) and request of capital and/or funding.

Commitment

Considering the differences in mentoring relationships based on various variables such as the
needs of the mentee, the mentor's skillset and expertise, location of both the mentee and mentor,
the Bank does not prescribe the type of relationship each pair should have. However, it is
expected that the mentee and mentor meet on the dedicated platform for at least 2 hours per
month over the period of the program.