A Non-Governmental Organization, Craving for Development has pitched a discussion programme called The Ignition Hour. The programme is searching for ten entrepreneurs to tackle sector-disrupting innovation in the Sierra Leone agribusiness ecosystem.
On Thursday, the team started to listen to ideas from Sierra Leonean innovators at the Creative Hub Africa, Lumley in Freetown.
The Ignition Hour Venture Building Program is a 24-month initiative that will take innovators’ ideas to high-growth and Value companies.
In an interview with the CO-Founder and CO-Director of Craving for Development, Aminata Kane, it was disclosed that Ignition was started in 2018 by Craving for Development to support entrepreneurs.
This is the fourth season, after conducting successful three sessions.” What we are hoping to have is that entrepreneurs will pick up the business opportunity that would share them in their sectors and then start businesses”
The format of the ignition hour before this one, she said, wasn’t for them to automatically collect the business idea, but with this one “we wanted it to be generated organically, by getting them naturally here to articulate their business ideas”.
“So we wanna just have the show where entrepreneurs will come in and share business ideas, like business opportunity, and also build their skills. It is a three-year program.
“And then maybe we will identify a maximum of twenty, and those twenty will be those that have registered for the access to finance program and not to the venture building program.”
She said entrepreneurs are more focused on accessing finance than starting businesses that can positively disrupt the ecosystem or that help them contribute to Development.
“So we don’t help them with ideas. Right now, we don’t even know who is going to come up with the best idea, and we wanted it that way.”
Upon the twelve ideas presented, she maintained that six were invalid because they were looking for business ideas that could enhance the ecosystem.
“We want something that would give solution to the logistical issues, that will help grow very safely and very securely for twenty-four months, and at the end of those twenty-four months, they will be able to raise one hundred thousand dollars.”
She added “We are looking for ten vibrant ideas. We are looking for sector-disrupting ideas, ideas that are capable of disrupting the agricultural sector. We have already identified the problems, and are looking for sector disruption or ideas that are bringing solutions to the whole ecosystem,” she stated.
She said $20,000 will be given to each of the ten Entrepreneurs, whose ideas will have been deemed to solve the ecosystem.
Before the pitching of ideas by the innovators, a panel discussion was held on agriculture by three panellists.
