Our AL for Agribusiness network is excited to announce its partnership with Small Foundation, whose generous contribution will accelerate the delivery of a multi-year program to support young leaders as they navigate through the complexities of the agribusiness sector in Africa. The partnership aims to build an aspirational network that connects and supports young leaders as they build their career pathways and ventures in the African agriculture value chain.
AL for Agribusiness, established a year ago, is a network that connects and accelerates young leaders in the agriculture sector and related sub-sectors along the agriculture value chain. The network is set on building a vibrant agriculture sector that will attract and absorb an influx of energetic and talented young leaders keen to make an impact through agriculture – one of ALA’s key focus areas as we seek to Unleash the Network.
“We are very excited by this opportunity, which we believe will catalyze several young leader-led ag-focused initiatives that will make a difference in rural communities. Small Foundation joins a growing number of partners (including Mastercard Foundation, Robertson Foundation and ELMA) who have chosen to invest and partner with ALA, as we extend the reach of our programs to the network.” remarks Chief Network Officer, Maia Matshikiza.
Sector lead for AL for Agribusiness, Nono Sekhoto, will head this groundbreaking partnership. Having worked in the agriculture sector for over a decade, as a commercial farmer and youth in farming activities, Nono’s decision to join ALA to establish and lead the AL for Agribusiness Network came as a natural progression to her career. She is excited to partner with ALA to establish the network by leveraging her experience and networks in the sector, and contributing in the efforts of building a truly pan-African network in the agriculture sector.
“Young people in Africa interested in agriculture are often isolated in their career journey, experience stigma of agriculture being associated with property, and lack access to viable opportunities and exposure to technologies to develop their careers or ventures. We are excited at the opportunity to prove the power and importance of networks to combat the said challenges experienced by the youth, and accelerate agricultural careers and enabling rural livelihoods on the African continent. Small Foundation’s commitment to investing and learning about the role of networks, and its ‘network of networks,’ has already made ALA stronger. Learnings from our work together will also positively impact the other emergent networks that we look to bring to life in the years ahead, including in the other sectors.”, says Nono.
Small Foundation’s Gerard Wynne adds, “This partnership is part of Small Foundation’s network practice in SSA and their overall portfolio of work on supporting collaborative networks. Working closely with partners Converge and Creative Metier, Small Foundation supports the leadership and membership engagement of mission-aligned African networks seeking to increase sustainability and amplify cross-cutting, ecosystem-level impact.”
In an effort to collaborate in solving challenges in their communities or in advancing their work in agriculture, AL for Agribusiness invites network members to present ideas for initiatives which other members can join in on. An idea can be anything from developing new technologies to supporting each other in business or training in your communities.
How it will work:
- You share the details of your idea and what you aim to achieve.
- We will advertise your idea to the network to find collaborators.
- You will be connected to the interested collaborators and start your working group*.
- The working group will develop a proposal of the initiative to source necessary resources to implement the initiative, supported by the network.
*Terms and conditions will be provided to working groups.
