Vimal revealed Bidco has the capacity to bring more farmers on board/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 16 – Bidco Africa has entered into strategic partnerships to support thousands of young and women entrepreneurs take advantage of agri-business opportunities.
In an MoU with the KCB Foundation at least 1,000 youths will access guaranteed oil seed markets and another will receive 1,500 internship opportunities.
Bidco also signed additional MoUs with the African Women Entrepreneurship Program AWEP and the Vision 2030 Youth Entrepreneurship Associates.
AWEP has a membership of 30,000 who will be mobilized to plant oil seeds for Bidco while the Vision 2030 group will engage 10,000 of their members every year for the next five years.
The partnership with KCB is part of KCB’s Sh50 billion 2Jiajiri programme will provide 1,000 entrepreneurs every year with training, technical support and market linkages.
KCB Foundation will do the technical capacity building and Bidco will provide a guaranteed market for the entrepreneurs’ products in its sunflower and soya value chains.
“As the private sector we have synergies to be shared through partnerships and collaborations as steps in helping the country develop economically and tackle the heavy burden of youth unemployment in the country,” said Jane Mwangi, the KCB Foundation Director.
Vimal Shah, the Chief Executive Officer at Bidco Africa Ltd said, “This is a partnership about empowerment. Farmers do not need handouts all they need is access to reliable markets and their lives are transformed. If we can convert farmers to agri-preneurs we will achieve the impact we need.”
Public Service, Youth and Gender Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki lauded the youth and women and said the two groups were critical in building a better sustainable Kenya.
“Even If you look at the SDG’s and how they are framed-the centrality of youth and women is unmissable. That is both our biggest opportunity and responsibility.”
Vimal revealed Bidco has the capacity to bring more farmers on board.
“We are operating at 50 percent capacity in terms of seed crushing. We need farmers. We need young people to step and take up the challenge. KCB are providing a platform for that and that makes it a win-win for everyone.”
