Course Description

Efforts in improving survival rates of agribusinesses that currently have a high rate of failure is timely. For sustainable entrepreneurship and agribusiness development, building the capacity of rural development professionals who are actively engaged in the agriculture and food security activities in governmental and non-governmental organizations is key. Entrepreneurship and Agribusiness Development are the best hope for reviving weak world economies. Entrepreneurs cannot do it alone; they need an enabling environment in which their business can grow. This course is designed to give insights on how to increase the level of entrepreneurship in communities at local and national levels. This course will provide hands-on application of knowledge for decision making in entrepreneurship and agribusiness development, planning and management. The training will enable participants to know how to address challenges in agri-entrepreneurship and development.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Understand the basic concepts of Entrepreneurship and Agriculture Development
• Learn the basic requirements for business operations
• Know the causes of many business failures in agriculture
• Learn how to overcome pitfalls in agribusinesses

Who should enroll?

This course targets individuals working in governments, funding agencies, and research and non-government organizations in agriculture. It is also suitable for business owners and representatives from organizations that support entrepreneurship and/or seek to enable an environment in which agribusinesses can flourish.

Why train with us

Vital Extra Learning guarantees our clients:

• State-of-the-art facilities and training infrastructure
• Extended tradition of hand-holding during post engagement
• Service delivery through highly seasoned industry experts.
• Value for money

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

Module 1:

Agri-Entrepreneurship

• Introduction to Entrepreneurship
• Organization of Agricultural Enterprises
• Enterprise Business Plan
• Record Keeping
• Credit Management

Opportunities for Agribusiness entrepreneurs

• How to start agribusiness ventures
• How to find a profitable business idea and turn it into profit
• How to find new products and services to introduce to my customers to boost revenues

Module 2:

ICT in Support of Agriculture

• Introduction to Computers
• Record Keeping (with VEL’s mobile application, Excel)
• Agribusiness information tools and platforms
• Seeking and Retrieval of Information
• E-Business

Financing for Agribusiness entrepreneurs

• How to get access to finances
• How to finance growth

Module 3:

Farmer Organizations and Group Dynamics

• Formation of farmers organization
• Registration procedure for the farmers producer groups
• Reasons why farmers groups fail

Agribusiness Financial Planning

• Review of strategic directions of agribusiness
• Evaluation of potential opportunities including the opportunity of setting up a new agribusiness
• Auditing of internal environment of the agribusiness including natural resources
• Auditing of external environment that will impact on the achievement of goals and objectives
• Managing change
• Benchmarking
• Marketing plans
• Physical management plans
• Financial management plans
• Financial, environmental, marketing and production, and human performance indicators
• Risk assessment and contingency planning
• Scenario comparison on whole business performance
• Formatting of the agribusiness plan
  
  

Sales, Marketing, & Branding in agribusiness

• How to find customers to buy your products and services
• How to profitably market to and reach your target audience
• How to develop and extend your brand to increase the value of your business
• How to maximise the value of your company's brand to resist pricing pressure from low cost competitors

Module 4: Field trip

Module 5:

Dealing with Risks in Agriculture and Agricultural Insurance

• Risk, risk management and information requirements
• Approaches to risk management
• Assisting farmers in managing risk

Market Linkages in Agriculture

• Types of market linkage
• Identifying profitable markets
• Factors affecting the success of linkages
• The enabling environment

Strategic Partnerships among for Agribusiness entrepreneurs

• How to leverage other people to help yourself create wealth
• How to find the right partnership opportunities to boost profits and increase your customer base
• Challenges faced by new Entrepreneurs
• How to overcome hurdles and pitfalls faced by new business starters
• Concept of an enabling business environment
• How to enhance a fertile business climate
• Entrepreneurial life cycle
• Entrepreneurship and the economy