Ugandan Diaspora Agribusiness Investor Award 2020 - Supporting migrants entrepreneurship
Migration is an inherent part of the development process and, when well managed, can greatly contribute to sustainable development of countries of origin and destination.
However, despite the wealth of evidence illustrating how financial resources and knowledge of diaspora communities can promote development, diaspora contributions to agriculture and rural development are currently constrained by a number of challenges related to investing in agriculture. With the right support and platforms, diaspora organizations can play a key role in helping rural areas through capital investment, skills and technology transfer, sharing of know-how and improved social networking.
Through its programmatic work on migration, FAO is committed to maximizing the benefits of migration for agriculture and rural development, including by fostering diaspora engagement in agribusiness. This includes raising awareness about the positive role of diaspora, supporting Member States in creating conditions for migrants to fully contribute to rural development as well as empowering diaspora agripreneurs as development actors.
As part of these efforts, FAO is working to generate income-generating opportunities in agribusiness in Uganda by tapping into the entrepreneurial potential of Ugandan diaspora.
Most recently, FAO, in collaboration with the Uganda Agribusiness Alliance (UAA), has launched a Call for Proposals to identify and award three successful Ugandan diaspora agripreneurs with agribusiness in place in Uganda employing youth.
Applications will be reviewed by a panel of judges who will evaluate the proposals according to pre-identified criteria as well as by carrying out evaluation field visits to the shortlisted agribusinesses to verify the information provided.
The selected candidates will benefit from extensive media exposure, participation in national agribusiness exhibitions, access to a network of agri-food service providers as well as tailored coaching. The latter will target diaspora agripreneurs and their employees in Uganda with the aim of refining their business ideas and strengthening their knowledge of business management.
The winners will be announced at the FAO Ugandan Diaspora Agri-food Investment e-Conference that will be held on 14 November 2020. The e-conference will offer a platform for diaspora agriprenerus to present their projects and build new partnerships, while also giving Ugandan youth agripreneurs the opportunity to pitch their projects to an audience of diaspora investors.