Group picture: Young agripreneurs from Africa in colourful clothes

Young Agripreneurs

€15,000 in Prize Money: Great Opportunity for Young Agripreneurs

Farmers around the world have a particularly important task: food security. At BayWa, we want to stand by them as a partner. Through the BayWa Foundation, we have also been supporting predominantly young agricultural scientists in Africa since 2019.

The research fields of the 21 young academics, aged between 25 and 30, are as diverse as agriculture itself: nutritional biology, agricultural economics, crop production, renewable energies – all subject areas in which we ourselves bring a great deal of expertise from the BayWa cosmos. We were therefore only too happy to invite them to exchange ideas at our headquarters in Munich.

What is behind the project?

The project is being implemented by the German Initiative for International Cooperation (giz) and Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences. It is part of the training pact with Africa concluded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The BayWa Foundation has been funding it since 2019. The participants attend a four-month training course and finish the programme with a case study. With the additional knowledge, they want to promote agriculture in their home countries.

Learn more
  • Group picture: 6 young female academics
    The research fields of the young academics are diverse: from agricultural economics to plant cultivation to renewable energies.

The most important part of the visit: the coffee breaks!

It was an afternoon packed with exciting impulses, for example on agricultural trade, alternative proteins and agri-PV systems. Nevertheless, the coffee breaks were probably the highlight. No wonder: after all, it was also about personal exchange with our guests, who had travelled from various regions of Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya, Burkina Faso and Malawi.

"With BayWa as a global player, we bring the right people together. By establishing contacts and promoting young experts, we create further impetus for international cooperation. In the long term, the talks also mean helping our guests today to help themselves," says Ellie Zips-Pape, Managing Director of the BayWa Foundation.

  • Four women stand in a circle and read an article
    After four months of the course, participants complete the programme with a case study.
  • Two participants of the event pose for a picture
    More than just a coffee: contacts were made and ideas exchanged during the breaks.

€15,000 for the three best final theses

In addition to the personal contacts, three of the graduates will go home with €5,000 each in September, at the end of the educational project. This prize money is intended to honour the three best final theses. But Robert Ipfelkofer, who spoke on the subject of grain trading as a trader of agricultural products, knows: "We also benefit from the young experts."

  • Participant of the event takes part in discussion round.
    The young academics, aged between 25 and 30, were guests in Munich for the first time.
  • Six participants sit next to each other at a table.
    The three best theses will each receive €5,000 in prize money.