Pan African Conference for the African Youth in Livestock, Fisheries and Aquaculture Incubators Network (AYL-FAIN)

25 to 27 July 2018. Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt. The African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources organized the Pan African Conference for the African Youth in Livestock, Fisheries and Aquaculture Incubators Network (AYL-FAIN).

The Conference was attended by 70 youth from 44 African Union member states from Eastern, Central, Southern, Western and Northern Africa. The countries present at the conference were (Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cote d’ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mali, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe). There were also representatives from The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Trust Africa, International Business Driving Licence (IBDL).

Prior to the conference, an incubation management Training of Trainers programme was facilitated by the African Agribusiness Incubators Network (AAIN) from 23rd to 24th July 2018 as part of the partnership arrangement between AU-IBAR and AAIN.

The objectives of the conference were to adopt operating procedures including statutes of AYL-FAIN, develop regional business plans and elect regional, continental executives and to launch AYL-FAIN.

His Excellency Prof Dr. Ezz El Din Abostate, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation for
Egypt opened the conference and also launched the following networks/associations:

• Association of Veterinary Education Establishments (2A2E-V)
• Association of African Veterinary Statutory Bodies (2AVSB)
• African youth in livestock, fisheries and aquaculture incubation network (AYL-FAIN)
• African women in animal resources farming and agribusiness network (AWARFA-N)

The Director of AU-IBAR, Prof Ahmed Elsawalhy (see picture) also read a statement on behalf of the Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture, Her Excellency Josefa Sacko.


The Conference Elected 13 Continental AYL-FAIN Executive Board Members of 8 elected executive members [President, Mr. Jean Baptiste Hategimana (see picture) (Rwanda), Vice President, Mr. Divine Ntiokam (see video) (Cameroon).

It developed 5 business plans that will be finalized and used as the blue print for incubation activities in the respective regions and agreed to profile and establish a database for Youth agribusinesses in animal resources to support incubation activities across the continent.

Related:

STRENGTHENING BUSINESSSUPPORT SERVICES FORAGRIBUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS (2017, 47 pages)

• “Strengthening Business Support Services for Agribusiness Partnerships” is the second in a series of 2SCALE thematic papers.
• The Netherlands-funded 2SCALE program is an incubator for inclusive agribusiness that aims to improve rural livelihoods and food and nutrition security across nine sub-Saharan countries. 2SCALE offers a range of support services to private partners – companies and farmer groups – enabling them to produce, transform, and supply quality food products to local, national, and regional end-user markets, including base-of-thepyramid (low-income) consumers.