FAO Exposure Visit: Agribusiness Incubation and Entrepreneurial Systems in Ireland

SFSI welcomed a 25-member delegation, led by Dr Janet Edeme – Head of Division of Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture Development (African Union Commission), on a 5-day exposure visit to Ireland. The participants – which included representatives from Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – were accompanied at the beginning of the tour by Ye Anping, Director of South-South and Triangular Cooperation (PST) at FAO.

The visit builds on the successful Agribusiness Incubation workshop held earlier this year in Kampala, and its focus was to introduce the delegation to some of the key actors in Irish agribusiness incubation and entrepreneurial systems and demonstrate how these systems are operated across the public and private sector in Ireland.

The Dublin-leg of the visit was hosted by SFSI-members Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, and Teagasc and included input from Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; and Department of Foreign Affairs as well as Young Scientists Tanzania and Small Foundation. The second half of the programme took in visits to The Food Hub and BIA Innovator Campus, two incubators that are contributing to growing the agri-food entrepreneurial landscape in the West of Ireland. The programme closed with a collaborative idea-exchange between participants, building on what had been learned and witnessed throughout the visit.

This study visit was a component of the funded project to strengthen capacities of Agribusiness incubators and Enterprise Support Organizations in the participating African countries. SFSI and IFIAD are working alongside FAO, AUC, AAIN, RUFORUM, and Agripreneurship Alliance in the design and implementation of this project.