Encouraging Entrepreneurship: Submit your Project Proposal and win US$ 15,000 EMRC-Rabobank Project Incubator Award 2010
BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, August 13, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — What do a young fruit juice produce company in Uganda and a cashew nut cooperative in Côte d’Ivoire have in common? They are both past winners of the Project Incubator Award, an initiative of the Brussels-based non-governmental organisation EMRC with the goal of encouraging development, innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa. The call to entry for this year’s EMRC-Rabobank Project Incubator Award 2010 has gone out, the judges are calling for project proposals in the agro-food and rural development sectors that positively impact the local community.
Entrepreneur Derek Kwesiga entered his proposal to the 2009 Project Incubator Award contest at the Africa Finance and Investment Forum in December 2009 in Amsterdam. He hoped to be chosen for the shortlist to enable him present his vision of creating a world class food processing business in Uganda. “Starting a business project anywhere is very difficult, especially Africa. I saw the Project Incubator platform as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to present my small business ideas and goals to an eclectic audience of industry leaders -we received what we hoped for and more.” Derek Kwesiga, Derekorp. The US$ 15,000 Award was sponsored by the African Development Bank.
Designed to give a much-needed prop up to African entrepreneurs that typically struggle to find funding for their project proposals, Mathias Kouakou & Fabien Yao, directors of COOGES (Coopérative Générale de Sepingo), a cashew nut cooperative in Cote d’Ivoire, were delighted to be chosen as the winners of the US$15,000 EMRC-Rabobank Project Incubator Award. “We entered the competition mainly for the exposure it would bring us, because even if we hadn’t won, at least we would have got our name out there and been able to share our business model with potential partners and investors. When we won the award, the joy was immense and indescribable. We realised that we were not crazy for believing in this project, validated by industry experts,” explains Mathias Adou Kouakou from COOGES.
The contest is open to all participants of the AgriBusiness Forum 2010 to be held from the 3 – 6 October in Kampala, Uganda. Jointly organised by EMRC and the Government of Uganda, the forum is supported by a glowing number of partners including Rabobank, FAO, USAID, Novus International, Stanbic Bank, Syngenta Foundation, the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), KPMG, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), IFDC, ProInvest, the East African Community (EAC), the European Union and the World Food Program (WFP).
A shortlist of business proposals is drawn up from the submissions and presented to a room full of attentive delegates who get to hear about the innovative business ideas first hand. This year’s EMRC-Rabobank Project Incubator Award 2010 will be no exception with the judges calling for projects in the agro-food and rural development sectors that positively impact the local community. The Award will be presented at the gala evening of the AgriBusiness Forum on Monday 4th of October 2010 in Kampala.
EMRC looks forward to sharing the innovative project proposals with the few hundred delegates with the goal of galvanising small business growth across Africa. The cut-off date for entry is the 10th of September 2010 and entrants are urged to submit their ideas. “The award money we received was partly used to buy raw nuts in order to continue the operation of the plant for which we had no working capital. Another part was used to purchase machinery to increase the activity and complete the processing. Creating a sustainable business in Africa requires a sense of daring and a strong belief in what you do.” Mathias Adou Kouakou, COOGES.
For more information please visit www.emrc.be or email info@emrc.be
- ENDS -
Contest: EMRC-Rabobank Project Incubator Award
Award Event: AgriBusiness 2010, 3 – 6 October, Kampala, Uganda
Organiser: EMRC International http://www.emrc.be
Press Accreditation:
Please email pmm@emrc.be or sb@emrc.be for more information
SOURCE
EMRC
8/13/2010
Encouraging Entrepreneurship: Submit your Project Proposal and win US$ 15,000 EMRC-Rabobank Project Incubator Award 2010 « Database of Press Releases related to Africa
MSDN Blog Postings » Blog Archive » Business and Entrepreneurship competition for High School students
Business and Entrepreneurship competition for High School students
Posted by on August 13th, 2010
TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE), a registered non-profit organization, is accepting applications from high school students into its 2010/2011 program! Chapters in Boston, Carolinas, Delhi, London and Seattle are accepting applications. The Seattle chapter at www.tyeseattle.org , has the application form for download; complete and email it to applications@tyeseattle.org ! TYE’s education program has been ongoing since 2005 and focuses on teaching entrepreneurship to young people and helping…(read more)
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Texas A&M News & Information Services » Blog Archive » Entrepreneurship Bootcamp For Veterans Offers Technology Twist
Entrepreneurship Bootcamp For Veterans Offers Technology Twist
2009 Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (Photo by Mays School Photo Team)
COLLEGE STATION, Aug. 13, 2010 — Mays Business School at Texas A&M University is again joining a select group of business schools to offer the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). This year, supporters will be able to get a sense of the action at the life-altering program, as three of the 20 Mays participants will be video-blogging the event.
The program, which runs for a week beginning Saturday (Aug.14) on the Texas A&M campus, provides education and training in entrepreneurship and small business management free of cost to military personnel injured in the line of duty since 9/11. The program is designed to help participants learn essential skills that will help them start, grow and successfully manage entrepreneurial ventures.
“We have the opportunity to change lives for men and women who have g
iven so much to us through their service to our country,” says Richard Lester, clinical associate professor and executive director of the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship at Mays, which hosts the bootcamp at Texas A&M. “ It is a great honor and privilege that all of us share who become associated with the EBV program.”
The EBV program was introduced by the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 2007. Now the program is offered in consortium with Mays, UCLA, Florida State University, Purdue and the University of Connecticut.
The program consists of a three-week online self-study, a nine-day on-campus residency period, and a year of mentorship with a faculty member volunteer as participants launch their new ventures. The program provides participants not only with the practical skills necessary to make their new venture a success, but also a network of support that will be vital as they launch their ideas.
Corporate sponsors and private individuals provide funding so the entire program — including tuition, travel and accommodations — is offered at no cost to the veterans.
Contact: Kelli Levey, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4645; or Richard Lester, the Mays EBV program director, at (979) 862-7091
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College students compete with business ideas at Entrepreneurship Immersion Week
College students compete with business ideas at Entrepreneurship Immersion Week
Published: Friday, August 13, 2010, 6:12 PM Updated: Friday, August 13, 2010, 6:19 PM
Hiram College sophomore Daniel Fakhoury couldn't even look at chocolate syrup the same on Tuesday, after spending three days in a program about how entrepreneurs innovate or improve products.
It didn't take long for his teammates to help create "Stir-Ups," an idea to fill straws with chocolate syrup. The idea captured $4,000 Friday at Baldwin Wallace College, in a competition among college students to create business concepts.
"We can see kids ages 5 to 14 as our primary consumer," Fakhoury said. "But anyone who loves chocolate milk as much as us might buy it."
The idea has a chance of becoming part of an actual business, since the winning team of the 4th annual "Entrepreneurship Immersion Week" competition also won web development and hosting from Cleveland-based WRIS Web Services and incubator space and services at the nonprofit Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, known as MAGNET.
Student teams at John Carroll University tied for second place with "Menu 2.0," an iPad application used to replace restaurant menus, and Baldwin Wallace College's team's idea for "Excelery Health," a web-based gaming program aimed at combating childhood obesity. Both teams won $2,000.
The prize money is secondary to the program's goals.
"What's unique about EEC is we're directors of competing programs at area colleges and universities who work together for the benefit of the region," said Phil Bessler, president of the EEC, which is funded primarily by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation.
"Our program participants likely grew up in Northeast Ohio, have elected to get educated here, and we teach them to start new ventures to create wealth and jobs in Northeast Ohio."
Other participating college teams included students from the University of Akron, Ashland University, Case Western Reserve University, Lake Erie College and Kent State University.
Earlier this year, the EEC won the top award for teaching methods from the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the nation's largest independent academic entrepreneurship association.
Seth's Blog
New times demand new words, because the old words don't help us see the world differently.
Along the way, I've invented a few, and it occurs to me that sometimes I use them as if you know what I'm talking about. Here, with plenty of links, are 26 of my favorite neologisms (the longest post of the year, probably):
A is for Artist: An artist is someone who brings humanity to a problem, who changes someone else for the better, who does work that can't be written down in a manual. Art is not about oil painting, it's about bringing creativity and insight to work, instead of choosing to be a compliant cog. (from Linchpin).
B is for Bootstrapper: A bootstrapper is someone who starts a business with no money and funds growth through growth. The internet has made bootstrapping much easier than ever, because the costs of creating and marketing remarkable things are cheaper than ever. It's really important not to act like you're well-funded if you're intent on bootstrapping (and vice versa). You can read the Bootstrapper's Bible for free.
C is for Choice: I didn't coin the term the Long Tail, but I wish I had. It describes a simple law: given the choice, people will take the choice. That means that digital commerce enables niches. Aggregating and enabling the long tail accounts for the success of eBay, iTunes, Amazon, Craigslist, Google and even match.com.
D is for Darwin: Things evolve. But evolution is speeding up (and yes, evolving). While it used to take a hundred thousand years for significant changes to happen to our physical culture, the nature of information and a connected society means that 'everything' might change in just a few months. Ideas that spread, win and organizations that learn from their mistakes lead the rest of us. (from Survival is Not Enough)E is for Edgecraft: Brainstorming doesn't work so well, because most people are bad at it. They're bad at it because their lizard brain takes over moments before a big idea is uttered. "Oh no!" it says, "I better not say that because if I do, then I'll have to do it." And so brainstorming quickly becomes clever stalling and timewasting. Far better is to practice edgegraft. Someone announces a direction ("we'll be really convenient, we'll offer our menu by fax,") and then the next person goes closer to that edge, topping it, ("we'll offer it by email!") and so on, each topping the other in any particular direction. (from the book Free Prize Inside)
F is for the Free Prize: People often don't buy the obvious or measured solution to their problem, they buy the extra, the bonus, the feeling and the story. The free prize is the layout of Google--the search results are the same, but the way the search feels is why you choose to search there. If engineers thought more about the free prize, we'd need fewer marketers.
G is for Go go go™: I just trademarked this one, but you have my permission to use it all you like. Go go go is the mantra of someone who has committed to defeating their anxiety and ignoring their lizard brain. Not a good strategy for airline pilots, but for the rest of us, a little Go go go might be just the ticket.H is for broken: Isn't it just like a marketer to compromise when he should have organized better in the first place? There's a lot in our consumer society that's broken, but try to avoid getting obsessed with it. Far better to ship your own stuff that's not broken instead.
I is for Ideavirus: A decade ago a wrote a book that was free. It still is. It argues that ideas that spread win, and you can architect and arrange and manipulate your ideas to make them more likely to spread. Note that I'm not saying you can add gimmicks and spam and networking to spread your idea. I'm saying the idea itself is more or less likely to spread based on how you design it.
J is for just looking: When there's plenty of choice and everything is a click away, I'm very unlikely to take action, certainly unlikely to actually buy something from you. I'll do it tomorrow. Or the day after. Which means the only way you create action is to produce an emergency. Why now? Why not later...
K is for kindle: No, not the ebook reader. Kindle as in patiently starting a fire. The TV era demanded blockbuster launches of blockbuster products aimed at the masses. The internet responds better to bonfires that are kindled over time, to ideas that spread because the idea itself is the engine, not the hype or the promotion. First, ten.
L is for Lizard Brain: This is a huge impediment to getting what you want, finding your calling and satisfying your customers. The lizard brain is near your brain stem, including your amygdala. It's the part of your brain responsible for anger, revenge, fear, anxiety and reproduction. It's the original brain, the one that wild animals possess. Steve Pressfield has named the voice of the lizard: it's the resistance. The resistance rationalizes, hides and sabotages your best work.
M is for Meatball Sundae: This is the unfortunate combination of traditional products and services (designed for low price and good quality) with the high-growth nature of the idea-driven internet. When your boss tells you to build a viral campaign about some lame product gathering dust in the warehouse, she's asking you to build a meatball sundae and you should flee.
N is for NOBS: Otherwise known as the new order business school. My rant about this points out that for most people, a traditional MBA is a waste of both time and money. The two biggest benefits--the selection process of getting in, and the social process of networking--could be accomplished, in a Swiftian fashion, without any classes at all.
O is for Orangutan: I could have used the word 'monkey', but I already had an M listing, plus I love the way you spell Orangutan. Anyway, the primate is the best way to think about how people interact with websites. They're like monkeys in a psychology experiment, looking for the banana. Where's the banana, they ask? Of course, I don't know the monkey word for banana, so I'm paraphrasing. If your website offers a banana, people are going to click on it. If they don't, they'll leave. My argument for banana design is in The Big Red Fez.
P is for Permission: Anticipated, personal and relevant messages will always outperform spam. Obvious, but true. So then why do you persist in spamming people? Billboards, TV ads, phone calls--they all are defeated soundly by delivering your offers with permission. In fact, the biggest asset a company can build online is this privilege, the list of people who would miss you if you didn't show up. Here's the original interview (12 years ago!) in Fast Company.
Q is for Quitting: Sticking things out is overrated, particularly if you stick out the wrong things. In fact, I think you'd be much better off quitting most of what you do so you have the resources to get through the hard slog I call the Dip... The challenge, then is to not quit in the Dip, but instead to quit everything else so you have the focus to get through the slog of what matters.
R is for Remarkable: A purple cow is remarkable, because it's worth talking about. Not because you, the marketer said it was, but because I the consumer did. And in a world without effective, scalable advertising, remarkable products and services are the single best way to succeed. Here's a long essay from seven years ago.
S is for Sneezer: What do we call someone who spreads an idea the way some people spread a virus? Seek them out, cater to them, organize them.
T is for Tribe: Human beings evolved to be attracted to tribes. Groups of like-minded people who share a culture, a connection and perhaps a goal. And each of these tribes seeks leadership. The opportunity for marketers today isn't to sell more average stuff to more average people. The opportunity is to find and connect and lead tribes of people, taking them somewhere they want to go.
U is for Ululate: Not because it's relevant, just because it's the single best word in the English language. Can I sneak an extra C? The cliff business.
V is for Very good: No one cares about very good. I can get very good from just about anyone, and certainly cheaper than I can get it from you. We don't have a competence shortage, not any more. No, I'm only going to pay extra for the personal, the magical, the artistic and the work of the linchpin.W is for Worldview: I first encountered this term via George Lakoff. Your worldview is the set of expectations and biases you bring to a situation before any new data appears. Some people hear a politician say something and hate it, while others are thrilled by it. Is it the thing that was said or the person who said it? Some people hear that Apple is about to launch a new product and they get out their wallets, others flee--before they even know what it is. If you don't understand the worldview of the people you're selling to, you will fail.
X is for Xebec: I hate it when A-to-Z listmakers cheap out on the X. Hey, a xebec is a three-masted schooner. And they're obsolete. Just like CDs, newspapers and a whole host of interesting but dated business models. Sorry. Imagine someone saying: "He's a nice guy, but that company he works for is a xebec."
Y is for You. You the artist. You the one who makes a difference. You the one who stands for something and now has the leverage (and access to the market) to actually ship. Go go go.™
Z is for Zoometry: Originally a term from zoology (pronounced zo-ology, in case you were curious), zoometry is the science of instigating and learning from change. This is the revolution of our time, the biggest one in history, and it's not just about silly videos on Youtube. One by one, industry by industry, the world is being remade again and again, and the agents of change are the winners.