aiic new gateway into african agribusiness
TRANSCRIPT
SVCDC - KenyaIDPA - UgandaCURAD - UgandaCAF - MaliAgBIT - Zambia CCLEARr - Ghana
Ralph von KaufmannUniBRAIN Facility Coordinator
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
NIABI 2112Roundtable on South-South collaboration, on 1530-
1700 hrs February 6, 2012, New Delhi, India
SVCDC - KenyaIDPA - UgandaCURAD - UgandaCAF - MaliAgBIT - Zambia CCLEARr - Ghana
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY
INTO THE AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
SECTOR
UNIBRAIN A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
UniBRAIN is a pan-African initiative of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) supported by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danida)
• Rationale
• UniBRAIN Partners
• UniBRAIN organisation
• An emerging African agribusiness incubator network
• A gateway for South-South collaboration
• Take home messages
CONTENT
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
Wide scale investment in agribusiness and agro-industry in Africa is presently constrained by:
• Human and institutional capacity deficits
i.e., Not enough entrepreneurs and problem solvers
• Lack of leadership in identifying and exploiting socially responsible opportunities for investment in agriculture and the environment
RATIONALE
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
UniBRAIN’s development objective is:
To contribute to enabling African countries to create jobs and raise incomes through sustainable agribusiness development.
UniBRAIN’s Immediate Objective, which is also its value proposition, is:
To enable universities, business and agricultural research institutions to commercialise agricultural technologies and produce graduates with entrepreneurial and business skills through agribusiness incubator partnerships.
RATIONALE CONTD.
Impact pathways:
UniBRAIN
Strengthening university-
private sector linkages
Knowledge-based socio-
economic growth thro’
business incubation
Harnessing youthful vigor to spur growth
in agro-food sector
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
UniBRAIN is coordinated by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
The university aspects are facilitated by the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE)
The agribusiness aspects are facilitated by the Pan African Agribusiness and Agro-industry Consortium (PanAAC)
The agribusiness incubator management aspects are facilitated by the Agribusiness Incubation Programme ICRISAT (ABI-ICRISAT)
The agricultural research aspects are facilitated by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Sub-Regional Organisations: ASARECA for Eastern Africa, CORAF/WECARD for West Africa, CCARDESA for Southern Africa
THE UNIBRAIN PARTNERS
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
THE UNIBRAIN PARTNERS (CONT.)
• The Sub-Regional Organisations (SROs)
• Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)
• West and Central African council for agricultural research and development (CORAF/WECARD)
• Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Africa (CCARDESA)
•
UNIBRAIN A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
THE ROLES OF THE PARTNERS:
UniBRAIN
FARA
ANAFE
PanACC
ABI-ICRISAT
Danida
SROs
Funding agencyRoyal
Danish Ministry of
Affairs
Overall coordinationForum for Agricultural
Research in Africa
Facilitating university
participationAfrican Network for Agriculture,
Agroforestry and Natural Resources
EducationFacilitating
private sector participationPanAfrican
Agribusiness and Agroindustry ConsortiumAgribusiness Incubator
Programme of the International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics
Facilitating agricultural
research participationSub Regional Organisations
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
ORGANISATION: THE UNIBRAIN FACILITY
FARA Secretariate UniBRAIN Facility
1. Executive Director 2. Deputy Executive
Director 3. Director Finance 4. Director Capacity
Strengthening (NSF4 Budget Holder)
UniBRAIN Partnership Committee
UniBRAIN Steering
Committee
UniBRAIN Executive
Committee
UniBRAIN Facility
Coordinator*)
UniBRAIN Accountant*)
(Incubator Support)
UniBRAIN Community Manager*)
UniBRAIN Programme
Officer*)
PanAAC ABI-ICRISAT
ANAFE SROs UniBRAIN Partners
Formal/contractual responsibilities Networking/ technical relations Work programming
UniBRAIN Incubators
CURAD IDBPA SVCDC CCLEAr CAF AgBIT
Board Board Board Board Board Board
Legend
*) Line responsibilities and conditions of service to be handled within FARA’s human resource and administrative framework
UniBRAIN CAF
UniBRAIN CCLEAr
UniBRAIN AgBIT
Uni
BRAIN
SVCDCUni
BRAIN
ABP
Uni
BRAIN
CURAD
AN EMERGING AFRICAN AGRIBUSINES INCUBATOR NETWORK
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
AN EMERGING AFRICAN AGRIBUSINES INCUBATOR NETWORK
UniBRAIN agribusiness incubators
The Consortium for enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development (UniBRAIN-CURAD) focusing on plantation cash crops Specific value chain: Coffee
The Incubation and Diversification of Banana Products for Agribusiness (UniBRAIN-ABP or Afri Banana) focusing on staple food and cash crops Specific value chain: Banana
The Sorghum Value Chain Development Consortium (UniBRAIN-SVCDC) focusing on smallholder dry land food grains Specific value chain: Sorghum
The Creating Competitive Livestock-bias Entrepreneurs in Agribusiness (UniBRAIN-CCLEAr) focusing on Smallholder livestock Specific value chain: Livestock
The Innovative Centre for Agro-forestry (UniBRAIN-CAF) focusing on agro-forestry products Specific value chains: non-timber forestry products, cereals and fruits
The Agri-Business Incubation Trust (UniBRAIN-AgBIT) focusing on tropical fruit Specific value chain: Mango
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
UNIBRAIN AGRIBUSINESS INCUBATORS CONTD.
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
• Facilitate technology commercialization between India and later other Southern countries and Africa
• To share ABI-ICRISAT and NIABI experience and expertise in establishing agribusiness incubators with UniBRAIN stakeholders
• Identify value chains that are important to both India and Africa, for example in rice, maize, sorghum, millet, animal husbandry, fruits, coffee, cashew, agroforestry, that offer significant opportunities for commercialising value adding technologies
A GATEWAY FOR SOUTH-SOUTH AGRIBUSINESS COLLABORATION
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
• Building on NIABI’s experience to develop technology incubator manuals that will be adapted and contextualized with African counterparts through product and process transfer and training
• Around 100 proven commercially important technologies, i.e. about 5 per incubator, will be made available for transfer to African agribusinesses from ICAR, with technical support for their adaptation and adoption
A GATEWAY FOR SOUTH-SOUTH AGRIBUSINESS COLLABORATION
UNIBRAIN A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
• Strengthen the capacities of agribusiness incubator managers and operators
• Training will be offered to staff of each of the incubators through exposure visits to agribusiness incubators in India that will be selected for relevance to the trainees’ agribusiness interests.
• Indian expert business incubator managers will be available to conduct training programmes on incubator operations at the UniBRAIN agribusiness incubator
A GATEWAY FOR SOUTH-SOUTH AGRIBUSINESS COLLABORATION
UNIBRAIN A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
• Facilitate soft landings for Indian firms wishing to enter Africa for agribusiness
• In conjunction with GABI a national conference will be convened in India organized by NIABI to which African entrepreneurs will be invited to provide them an opportunity to meet potential business partners
• Setting up a fully-fledged seamless video conferencing facility managed by NIABI, ABI-ICRISAT and UniBRAIN that will facilitate soft landings for Indian businesses seeking partners and business opportunities in Africa
A GATEWAY FOR SOUTH-SOUTH AGRIBUSINESS COLLABORATION
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
• Setting systems in place with UniBRAIN for promoting effective single window solutions for Indian and other Southern entrepreneurs in Africa
• Facilitate linkages for African agribusinesses seeking partnerships and export opportunities with Indian and Southern agribusinesses
• Using the systems established under point 3 above to provide similar services for African businesses seeking to opportunities in Indian agribusiness and agricultural markets
• Establish a strategic alliance for initiating Global Agri Business Incubator network (GABI)
A GATEWAY FOR SOUTH-SOUTH AGRIBUSINESS COLLABORATION
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
The purpose of the gateway is to:
• Facilitate two-way technology transfer and commercialization between India and Africa
• Strengthen the capacities of African agribusiness managers and operatives
• Facilitate soft landings for Indian firms wishing to enter Africa for agribusiness
• Facilitate linkages for African agribusinesses seeking partnerships and export opportunities with Indian agribusinesses
• Establish a strategic alliance for initiating the Global Agri Business Incubator network (GABI)
TAKE HOME MESSAGE
UNIBRAIN, A NEW GATEWAY INTO AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS
For more information visit:
www.fara-africa.org/our projects/unibrain
THANK YOU