The Farmers for the Future Youth Challenge is sponsored by The British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATN Foundation or BATNF) and Implemented by SAEDConnect. BATNF is an independent aid organization established in November 2002 by British American Tobacco Nigeria. Since its incorporation, the Foundation has established over 150 community development projects in all the 36 States of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory. Its projects have been geared towards the alleviation of poverty and the facilitation of a good life for the indigenes of various rural communities across Nigeria, projects spanning water supply, environmental protection, vocational skills acquisition, and agricultural development. Since 2013 it has concentrated its focus on sustainable agriculture. With the current vision of changing the face of Agriculture in Nigeria as we know it, it aims to achieve this through encouraging and supporting the youth in sustainable agriculture as BATNF believes that the Future of Agriculture and indeed Nigeria rests on the shoulders of the Younger Generation. SAEDConnect is the official youth Empowerment accelerator of NYSC with years of experience and the right tools and drivers needed to craft and deploy innovative solutions to youth empowerment initiatives

No, you won’t, as all of the activities of the challenge/competition will be virtual. Although you will not need to travel across states for the challenge, a good and stable internet connectivity is strongly advised to maximally participate and benefit from the challenge once your application is accepted.

Businesses of all stages are welcome to apply. Whether they are at the idea stage prototype/testing stage or even Post-revenue stage.

The application opens on the 29th of January and closes on the 13th of February, 2021.

We will assess and score your application based on the severity of problem your business is solving, proof of customer demand, practicality and uniqueness of your solution, viability of your target market and potential for scalability, Impact of the solution, impact potential of the solution, execution capacity of the entrepreneur and team composition.

Yes. The first prize gets N3m, the 2nd Prize gets N2m and the 3rd Prize gets N1m.

The Farmers for the Future team will utilize her networks and resources to validate the claims of applicants. In some cases, potential applicants might be required to provide proof of the existence of their business – if they are being considered.

Yes, you can. However, we appreciate balanced teams who have a full range of skills. We strongly advise you to have a team who balance your skill set.

Yes, this cohort of the Farmers for the Future youth challenge is open to all active serving Corp Members, with at most 3 months remaining to the completion of their service year. Specifically, Corp Members of Batch 20 A

No, the youth challenge is strictly organized to accommodate businesses in and around the Agricultural sector. Specifically, businesses that fall into the following categories: Crop Farming, Livestock/ Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Product Logistics and Distribution, Agro Commodity Trading, Aquaculture, Horticulture, Agricultural Mechanization, Agricultural Produce Processing, AgTech, Agric Financing, Agric Education and Stakeholder Support.

Only businesses that are Agriculture related or that have Agriculture as their cornerstone and foundation pillar can apply. Basically, it is an Agri-business competition, meaning that businesses that have nothing to do with or contribute to Agriculture cannot apply.

Yes, you can. As long as you meet the primary requirement of being an Active Serving Corp Member, with not more than 3 months left in His/her Service year, then of course, you can apply, even with your business being located anywhere across the country. However, you must have very good internet connectivity and stability as all of the activities of the challenge will be held online, beginning from the application, to the boot camp, to the various mentoring sections, to the business pitch and even the award ceremony.

At most 4 weeks after the application closes all successful candidates will be reached via email, to inform them on how they can proceed to the next stage of the competition. Unsuccessful applicants may not receive any email from the Farmers for the Future team.

We treat each application data as confidential information. Because we see hundreds of applications and some of them include similar ideas, it is not practical for us to sign NDAs.

The Farmers for the Future youth challenge will span a time frame of 7+ months.

The mentoring phase comes immediately after the final 3 winners have been decided. These winners will be attached to different mentors, each peculiar to the type of business the participant is pioneering. This Phase goes on for a period of 4 months, where the mentee is guided and supported by their mentors as they execute their business plans towards achieving clearly defined milestones.

Yes, Certificates will be given to all participants or teams of participants who successfully complete the boot camp.