Local agribusiness ventures with innovative ideas stand a chance to win funding of up to Rwf1 billion to expand their enterprises in the ongoing second round of Agribusiness Africa Window (AAW)competition.

The competition, conducted by the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), targets businesses with commercially viable ideas that require between $250,000 (about Rwf178 million) and $1,500,000 (about Rwf1.1 billion) to expand; and those that have the potential to increase incomes of rural households through improved productivity or profits, reduced costs and job-creation.

Enterprises with innovative business ideas in agribusiness input supply, production, marketing and processing, as well as rural finance and information services targeted at agriculture can apply, an AECF statement said.

The application process is open until February 28, and is open to businesses from across Africa.

Twenty-two firms won funding in the AAW first round to implement their business  ideas. Of these, six were from Kenya, three in Mozambique, two from Rwanda, and the rest were spread across Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda and  Zambia. The two companies from Rwanda that won funding are C. Dorman, a smallholder coffee firm interested in green coffee sourcing and selling coffee to quality-oriented roasters around the globe, and Kigali Farms, which deals with mushroom production, processing and marketing.

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the AECF aims at stimulating private sector entrepreneurs in Africa to innovate and find profitable ways of improving access to markets and the way markets function for the rural poor.