$2 Million in Awards at COP27 to African Youth-led Businesses | African Development Bank

Twenty African youth-led enterprises have each won a grant of up to $100,000 in this year’s African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge (YouthADAPT) competition. In addition to the scholarship, each winner will benefit from a 12-month accelerator program to help them grow their business, increase their impact and create decent jobs.

The annual competition and awards program for Youth-led Enterprises – which is 50% female-led – is jointly organized by the Global Center on Adaptation, the African Development Bank and Climate Investment Funds (CIF). The program is part of the main pillar of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program YouthADAPT.

The program encourages sustainable job creation by supporting entrepreneurship and youth-led innovations in climate change adaptation and resilience across Africa. The competition invites young entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa to submit innovative solutions and business ideas that can boost climate change adaptation and resilience.

Dr. Speaking at the awards ceremony, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank Group, said: “Africa’s needs cannot be ignored. Youth must be at the center of everything we do on climate change. No young person is too young to start the climate dialogue. Our young people must be part of the solution. They are creative, dynamic and engaging. They are futuristic and must be part of the solution for climate adaptation in Africa.

“We want youth to speak for Africa and develop solutions for the continent. For this initiative, we supported 10 youth-owned and youth-led businesses in Africa with $1 million last year. This year, we’re supporting 20 companies with $2 million. So we can expect to double our efforts to $4 million dollars next year. This is how it will be for Africa.”

Adesina noted that 80% of the winners’ businesses were in agriculture. He said: “Agriculture is the future of Africa. As you know, that has been my gospel for decades. The lowest bar is for Africa to feed itself. The high bar is for Africa to feed the world. Agriculture is a business. I encourage our young people to do three things: create, adapt and thrive. simply CAP.”

Norwegian Minister of International Development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, praised the enthusiasm the competition generated among the youth. She said it is important to tailor climate solutions that can be scaled up for different communities.

“That’s where the youth of Africa comes in – you see the problem; you see the solutions and you have the energy and resources to deliver and we want to help you do that,” she said. She praised the African Development Bank and the Global Adaptation Center for setting up the initiative.

Professor Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation, spoke about the impact of the award on one of last year’s winners, Juveline Ngum Ngwa from Bamenda in Cameroon, who was able to scale up her company, Bglelee Waste Management. Last year’s grant allowed her to open a second waste-sorting plant and has further developed software for her drones that detect waste that blocks drainage systems.

He noted, “Adaptation is a good thing. But it must be to scale. And that is exactly what the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program – the AAAP – does. The AAAP is mobilizing $25 billion over five years to scale up and accelerate climate adaptation efforts across Africa. And one of the four pillars is the flagship program YouthADAPT.”

The winning companies of the Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge 2022 come from all parts of the continent. Half are led by women. They scale innovations in critical social and economic sectors affected by climate change. These include agriculture, waste management, water resources and sanitation, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The 2022 winners of the African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge are:

• Flush, Namibia
• Green impact technologies, Malawi
• AgriTech Analytics, Kenya
• Baramoda, Egypt
• Cassavita, Cameroon
• Ecobarter, Nigeria
• Farmer Lifeline Technologies, Kenya
• Grocircular Agro Services, Nigeria
• IRIBA Water Group Ltd, Rwanda
• Mpatsa Engineering Company Limited (formerly Sustainable Water Irrigation and Farming Technologies), Malawi
• Viva Organica, Botswana
• Voltx for Engineering & Industries, Egypt
• West African Feeds, Ghana
• Kisumeo Organics Limited, Kenya
• Agro expert farming, Senegal
• EURL Algerienne Des Industries Technologiques, Algeria
• Lono, Ivory Coast
• Pazelgreen Technologies, Nigeria
• Akatale On Cloud, Uganda
• Multi-Tech Sustainable Solutions (MTTS), Cameroon

The organizers of the program received 3,000 entries for this year’s contest. The top 50 were nominated to pitch their innovations to a jury.

About the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA)

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization that works as a broker of solutions to accelerate action and support for climate adaptation. It does this in a broad spectrum from local to international, in collaboration with the public and private sectors. Founded in 2018, GCA operates from its headquarters in the largest floating office in the world in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. GCA has a global network of regional offices in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China.

More information is available at www.gca.org

About the African Development Bank

The overarching objective of the African Development Bank Group is to promote sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member states, thereby contributing to poverty reduction. The Bank Group achieves this objective by mobilizing and allocating resources for investments in regional Member States and by providing policy advice and technical assistance in support of development efforts. The African Development Bank allocates 67% of its climate finance funding to adaptation. The bank aims to mobilize $25 billion for adaptation, in addition to its efforts to raise up to $13 billion for its African Development Fund, the bank’s concessional window for climate action during the final replenishment phase.

More information: https://www.afdb.org/

About the Climate Investment Funds (CIF)

CIF is one of the world’s largest and most ambitious multilateral climate finance mechanisms for developing countries that want to shift to low-carbon and climate-resilient development and accelerate climate action. Its launch in 2008 arose from the recognition by world leaders that climate change and development are inextricably linked, and that climate-smart investments at scale are needed to capture the opportunities for green growth identified in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN.

More information: https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/.