Eight African Women-led Businesses Win AfDB YoungAdapt Challenge, Receive $100,000 Grants At COP28

By Obiabin Onukwugha

Eight women-led businesses have emerged winners of the African Development Bank YoungAdapt initiative programme at the Conference of Parties, COP28, taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

YouthAdapt is an annual competition for young entrepreneurs leading micro- small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa with innovative climate change adaptation solutions.

The winning ventures, led by women from across Africa, focused on sectors affected by climate change such as agriculture, energy efficiency, disaster risk management, water resources, and biodiversity conservation.

Speaking during the awards presented on the sidelines of the COP28, the
AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said each of the businesses will receive grant funding of up to $100,000.

Adesina informed that each of the participants will also receive comprehensive mentorship and coaching as part of a 12-month accelerator programme.

According to the AfDB President, the YouthADAPT initiative has provided more than five million dollars to 33 young entrepreneurs from 19 African countries since its inauguration in 2021.

He further pointed out that this year’s focus is on female-owned enterprises pioneering Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data analytics.

Others were virtual reality, robotics, the Internet of Things, quantum computing, additive manufacturing, blockchain, and fifth-generation wireless for climate adaptation.

He said: “The Jobs for Youth in Africa and the Skills Employability initiatives at the Bank stand as a testament to our commitment.

”We aim to create 25 million jobs for our youth, ensuring that 250 million individuals find their path to the labour market.

“The YouthADAPT initiative, therefore, is a pledge to invest in the youth and shape a thriving future.”

During the panel discussion, Canada’s Assistant Deputy Minister for Sub-Saharan Africa, Cheryl Urban, noted the critical role that development finance institutions can play.

“The AfDB’s YouthADAPT programme provides crucial support in scaling up youth-led climate businesses and innovations in Africa. Canada is proud of being a contributor to the initiative,” Urban said.

Dr Beth Dunford, the AfDB’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, also stressed the importance of supporting entrepreneurs in tackling climate change.

She emphasised the need to remove barriers to finance, particularly for women.

The African Union Youth Envoy, Chido Mpemba, on his part, underscored the need to foster effective information-sharing mechanisms across regions.

Commenting, Lucy Wangari, one of this year’s award recipients from Onion Doctor, a firm specialised in monitoring onion growth, said the award would motivate her to do more.

“It serves as a significant driver in scaling (our) innovative solution to boost local onion production by 20 per cent and transform the onion value chain into a lucrative employment source for farmers in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid Lands.”

Past winners shared experiences about how the grant empowered their ventures.

Fela Akinse, the Chief Executive Officer of Salubata business, converting plastic waste into affordable footwear, said the grant helped them expand, innovate to clean technologies and generate global impact.

The initiative was jointly organised by the AfDB Group and the Global Centre on Adaptation, with support from the Africa Climate Change Fund.