RUFORUM

The overall purpose of the RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC) is to catalyse entrepreneurship through promotion of business innovation and provision of seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas among Southern Africa youth. The call targets young entrepreneurs and incubates below 35 years of age to compete for 20 awards that show case their innovations, enterprises, business concepts and propositions. The Regional Universities Forum for... Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), established by ten Vice Chancellors in 2004, is a consortium of 147 African universities operating within 38 countries spanning the African continent. RUFORUM is coordinated by a Secretariat hosted by Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. The organisation evolved from its predecessor, the Forum on Agricultural Resource Husbandry (FORUM) program of the Rockefeller Foundation. RUFORUM is registered as an International Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and has mandate to oversee graduate training. In July, 2014, RUFORUM signed a cooperation agreement with the African Union to support the implementation of the new African Union for Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa, 2024 (STISA 2024). Why RUFORUM Exists 1. Realize economies of scope and scale through academic exchanges including fostering region centers of excellence to train the next generation of agricultural scientists. 2. Provide an effective platform for University support to smallholder farmers through linkages with national agricultural research systems, the private sector and rural communities. 3. To champion national and regional policies to support effective postgraduate agricultural training and research.More