Agricultural innovators receive recognition at BFAs

Chernet Getaye from Alagae TVET won the annual Bright Future in Agriculture (BFA) Entrepreneurship award for his business pitch, “Spray Service Providing,” during the BFA National Pitching Event Thursday, July 15.
Getaye’s business would send trained professionals to apply pesticides to farmer’s crops instead of having the farmers do so themselves, as they often have little knowledge on proper application. Second place was awarded to Mohammed Jibril from Kombolocha TVET for his business “Biftu Gudina Milk Collection and Processing Unit,” and in third place was Bedilu Ketema from Alagae ATVET for his business “Hybrid Vegetable Seedling, Rising, and Marketing.”
The BFA Entrepreneurship award, organized in partnership with the Entrepreneurship Development Center (EDC), is given to three full-time TVET students for their business pitches. The award focuses on businesses within the horticulture and dairy market.
The BFA hopes to inspire young Ethiopian businesspeople to pursue agriculture and entrepreneurship, according to Project Director Dr. Huube Mudde. The majority of the labor force works in agriculture, Mudde added, which is why the BFA chooses to encourage young entrepreneurs to innovate within this industry.
Students apply for this award first at the college level. Two business ideas per college are selected and the semi-finalists then participate in a training session by the EDC. Six of those students are selected for the BFA National Pitching Event.
At the National Pitching Event, each student will give a ten minute presentation in English, Amharic, or Oromo, explaining their business idea and answering questions from the jury. The pitch is evaluated on the students’ ability to solve a compelling problem with their business, their value proposition and competitive advantage, market target and size, revenue model, investment fund, and the clarity and persuasiveness of their pitch.
The BFA was founded with support from both the Ethiopian and Dutch governments. It has partners in the Netherlands, Ethiopia, and South Africa, among other nations.