Bayer has awarded Kes 100,000 to the top team at the culmination of the 6th annual Bayer Youth Summit held at the Rowallan National Scouts Camp in Kibera.
The team comprising of students from Kenya National Farmers Federation emerged with the top idea around this year’s theme‘Empowering Youth for Agricultural Transformation
through Agribusiness and Innovations‘ which was provided at the beginning of the summit.
The summit participants were divided into smaller groups, in which they were to discuss and present their ideas as guided by the theme- with the best idea receiving the
prize money to go towards implementation.
The top three ideas presented this year Agritech App: Addressing the challenge of access to data, open markets, sustainable
technologies. Innovation aimed at providing real-time time data, information sharing and data sharing amongst the youth.
Crucibles: significantly contributing to economic growth, climate change mitigation and adaptation, youth engagement with a focus on semi arid lands.
The winning idea in the 2024 Youth summit is Udbongo App whose idea is innovatively presenting farmers with a feedback mechanism, virtual farmer school,investment
platform and linkages to MFIs.
While receiving the prize money, the leader of the winning team John Wakesho from KENAFF thanked Bayer East Africa for the opportunity. `We are grateful for the opportunity
to participate in this year’s summit and for wining this money. We commit to ensure that we execute our idea and scale it as far as possible and make a positive contribution to
the community`, said Mr Wakesho.
The 4-day summit attracted 100 participants drawn from two agricultural institutions- with 50 proceeding to the final day of the summit.
The event which is locally organized invited young agricultural leaders with a passion for sustainable global agriculture for the opportunity to learn and collaborate with others on solutions to issues challenging food
security.
This year’s delegates come from Kenyatta University School of Agriculture and Environmental Studies and the Kenya National Farmers Federation (KENAFF – Youth Wing)
JKUAT).
Speaking at the awarding ceremony Bayer East Africa’s Managing Director Mr. Joern Kraegeloh lauded the students for their interest and commitment to participating in the
summit to discuss workable solutions towards food security.
“We are proud of you all for your active participation in this year’s summit, and we are confident that this has provided a launching pad for you all through the thought
provoking engagements throughout the summit. At Bayer, we are passionate about providing development opportunities for young people and we remain committed towards providing such platforms to support our future
leaders in Kenya and in other parts of the world“, said Mr Kraegeloh.
The Youth Summit is anchored on Bayer’s mission `health for all and hunger for none` and the solution for this lies in empowering the youth to embrace agribusiness which is a key driver for food security. With the high numbers of young people in Africa, there is an opportunity to empower them to embrace agribusiness not only for profit making but also to make an impact in communities through eradicating hunger.
Also speaking at the Youth Summit Bayer Communications Lead-Africa , Anthony Maina said the multinational will continue working with the youth across the continent to help
them scale up similar projects with the potential of changing the food landscape.
“We have realised that the Youth have good ideas which do not come to life due to lack of support through mentorship and funding. It is for this reason that we have set aside over
100 million to go towards youth empowerment across Africa`, said Mr Maina.
For the 2024 Bayer Youth Summit, Bayer East Africa collaborated with some key partners namely; Kenya Water for Health Organization (KWAHO) and the Kenya National Federation of Farmers to organise the 4 day event (three-day boarding) from 25th to 28th January 2024 at the Rowallan National Camp, Nairobi Kenya.
Presently half of the world’s young people live in Sub Saharan Africa. Although they are heavily and directly affected by water issues, climate change and are the most unemployed group, many youths remain marginalised from political processes and excluded from participating in decisions that affect their lives.
This happens without the recognition that these young people will bear the major consequences of the policy
choices that are made today.
Conversely, faster progress in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is hinged on the role youths play and the
resultant productive change. Young people have the potential and willingness to bring about momentous change by translating the SDGs into a sustainable future for all.
