By: Nana Appiah Acquaye
The African Agribusiness
Incubators Network (AAIN) has announced progress towards a strategic
partnership with the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources
(AU-IBAR) aimed at strengthening agribusiness incubation, entrepreneurship and
livestock value chains across Africa.
The proposed collaboration
follows discussions held during the First African Pastoral Markets Forum in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where stakeholders explored strategies to unlock the
economic potential of Africa’s animal resources sector.
According to AAIN, the
partnership will be formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that
will establish a collaborative framework to support agribusiness development
and enterprise growth across the continent.
The proposed agreement will
focus on agribusiness incubation and enterprise acceleration, investment
readiness, finance mobilisation, youth and women entrepreneurship, and the
development of livestock, fisheries and aquaculture value chains.
The partnership will also
promote market integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area
(AfCFTA) and support evidence generation and policy development to strengthen
Africa’s agribusiness ecosystem.
AAIN Chief Executive
Officer, Professor Alex Ariho, represented the organisation at the forum, where
continental leaders discussed practical approaches to positioning animal
resources as drivers of inclusive economic growth, food security and job
creation.
The organisation said the
partnership reflects a shared commitment to building resilient, competitive and
market-oriented value chains capable of creating new opportunities for
entrepreneurs across Africa.
AAIN also expressed its
intention to work closely with AU-IBAR, governments, investors, universities
and development partners to strengthen agribusiness incubation ecosystems and
improve support for agricultural enterprises.
The planned collaboration is
expected to contribute to the development of sustainable agribusiness value
chains while enhancing the capacity of entrepreneurs to access markets, attract
investment and scale innovative businesses across the continent.
