Top of this document
Go directly to navigation
Go directly to page content

Challenge

Farmers in Business

Participate in Agriterra's business plan competition for agricultural cooperatives and farmers' associations in Africa

* Receive feedback on your plan and get access to useful business tools

* Get support from a coach to write your business plan

* Win a business trip for trainings, b2b and investor meetings

* Win an incentive prize of €15,000

* Get access to a network of more than 36,000 like-minded entrepreneurs, coaches and investors

Winner:

MBADIFA Enterprsies Limited Uganda

Finalists:

Muhorro Area Cooperative Enterprise Uganda
MBADIFA Enterprsies Limited Uganda
Mbozi Dairy Limited Tanzania

Participation criteria

  1. Check the general participation criteria.
  2. You must be an agricultural cooperative or farmers' association with at least 250+ registered members. The business plan must be submitted by a representative of a cooperative. The cooperative, i.e. the members, should be the (future) owners of the business entity.
  3. Your business must be in the agriculture or food processing sector.
  4. Your country of business must be: Burundi, Congo DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.

How to submit your business plan?

1. Become a member of the BiD Network. Register here.

2. Create a profile in the BiD Network. Log in with your email and password.

3. Fill in and submit an online application by clicking "+Add a business plan" and answering the 15 questions about your business idea. You will find this button under "New contributions" when you are logged in. Make sure to click the box Farmers in Business at the bottom of the application.

4. Submit a complete business plan. If you already have a complete business plan you can attach it to your application directly. You can also submit it once your application is accepted. We offer business plan templates at the bottom of this page and coaching. For a more detailed instruction click on the grey box 'How to present your plan' on the right. As the competition is only open for agricultural cooperatives and farmers' associations, please make sure to include the following information in your business plan:

a) Membership base
How many members (agricultural producers) does your farmer’s cooperative/association have?

b) Governance system
Does your farmer’s cooperative/association have an elected Board and organise general assemblies?

c) Level(s) of operation
What is the level(s) of operation of your farmers' cooperative/association, including (inter)national membership?

d) Type of services provided to members
Is your farmer’s cooperative/association oriented at providing economic services to its members?

In a later stage we will request that you provide formal documents such as statutes, legal recognition and by laws of your farmers' cooperative/association.

Make sure to submit your complete business plan before the competition deadline on the 30th of April 2011.

What happens after you submit your plan?

  1. Your plan will enter the assessment process. You will receive extensive feedback in each stage.
  2. In May 2011, the finalists will be selected. 5 entrepreneurs will be invited for a business trip for trainings, b2b and investor meetings. These 5 entrepreneurs will compete for an incentive prize of €15,000.
  3. Whether or not you become a finalist, all high quality business plans are eligible for the BiD Network Investor Matchmaking Services.
Main partner