Eight Rwandans have been selected to participate in the East African Young Innovators in Agribusiness 2015 competition.

The Rwandan nominees are already in Kenya, where they joined 60 other participants from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia for a business training session at the Toyota Kenya Academy in Nairobi, organisers said in a statement. The training, which started on December 8 and end 12, is one of the planned activities ahead of the award ceremony next year, and follows one conducted in October this year. According to the statement, the contest that ends in May next year, seeks to empower youth in agribusiness with skills and cash prizes which will enable them to improve their businesses.

"The main focus of the competition is to equip youth with skills to establish and run sustainable enterprises along agricultural value chains. The competition targets 60 start-ups and 60 small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The top six finalists will receive seed capital amounting to $20,000 (Rwf15 million),” the statement said.

Rwanda is being represented at the competition by Herve Tuyishime of Paniel  Meat Processors Ltd whose enterprise deals in piggery and poultry, Jean Claude Uwihoreye  of  Grow Movement Rwanda (cereals), and Hategekimana Jean Baptiste  of  Kizinga Farm Ltd  that focuses on dairy production. Others are Pascal Murasira of  Hollanda Fair Foods, Pascal Furaha  of PEBEC Ltd, Igiraneza Alice of Life Changing Ltd, as well as  Kanani Enani of  New Extention Technology Ltd, and Ishimwe Aline of COOPAGI enterprises, which deals in horticulture.

Young people aged between 18-35 years with SMEs involved in production, value addition, innovation and knowledge transfer along the agricultural value chains in their respective countries qualified for the competition.

It is organised by USAID-supported East Africa Trade and Investment Hub, and is supported by Syngenta, Inter-Region Economic Network,  Toyota Kenya Academy, and the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN).