Incubator Startup Graduation and Exhibition event for Students and Local Youth Groups held at Haramaya University
Haramaya University (HU) held its first-ever incubator start-up graduation ceremony and facilitated showcase spaces for university graduates and members of local youth groups from September 13-14, 2022 at the Agricultural and Rural Incubation (ARIHUB) facility. The project was run with financial and technical support secured from The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), the MASTERCARD foundation and Haramaya University.
The program was an integral component of the “Agri-business Incubation Development and Mentorship Program” organized by the Agricultural and Rural Innovation Incubation Hub of Haramaya University. The event is a crucial component of a two-year project named “Strengthening Entrepreneurial Capacity through Agricultural and Rural Innovation Incubation Hub (ARIHUB)” at
Haramaya University, which was supported by the MASTERCARD foundation under RUFORUM’s Agricultural Enterprises Challenge Program (RECAP). The Incubation Challenge Grant Award and Pre-Incubation Launching Workshop were held for graduates and members of local youth groups 6 months ago.
Today’s event has been arranged to mark successful graduation and create an exhibition space for the first cohort of incubatees constituting graduates and members of the local youth group. The cohort was constituted of over 50 members and included 9 enterprises. Over 50% of the graduates are female candidates. The candidates passed through a-9-week intensive mentorship program in which senior and highly experienced business and technical mentors participated. The mentorship program was arranged in a way that allows the incubatees to grasp the theoretical and practical essence of agripreneurship. The program generally attempted to provide the incubatees with in-depth insights on entrepreneurial mindset; problem validation; value creation; value delivery; business management; business canvas and development of product flowchart; development and validation of minimum value products. Overall, the incubatees had taken a total of 46 contact hours (21 for theory and 25 for practice/lab work and fieldwork).
Source: HARAMAYA University