Deadline: 13 October 2023

Are you a food start-up operating in Africa or a black-owned food manufacturing company in the US? Your chance to grow your business is here! Apply now for the Africa Business Club IDEA Pitch Competition 2023 .

The IDEA pitch competition was launched by the African Business Club in 2022. Based on the success of the inaugural event, the Club is organising the 2023 edition with the addition of a mentoring programme to support the competition's finalists. The pitch competition is an initiative aimed at new and upcoming African entrepreneurs on the African continent and black-owned entrepreneurs based in the United States. The 2023 edition targets players in the food sector. The business pitch would represent the team members' original work and demonstrate how an idea supports their business goals.

Prizes

• 1st place: $2,500
• 2nd place: $ 1,500
• 3rd place: R$ 1,000

Eligibility

Participants will present their business ideas in the form of a business pitch and, in order to be eligible to take part, participants must meet the following criteria.

• The business pitch must represent the original work of the team members. The author(s) will retain all rights to the business pitch in relation to its use before and after the competition. The business pitch must not contain any disclosed information about (but not limited to) the background, experience or education of the management team, the stage of product development, product performance information or market research results.
• The competition is open to African entrepreneurs based in Africa and black entrepreneurs based in the United States. This must apply to at least one member of the management team, but other people can be members of the management team and participate in the planning of the venture. A participant may submit only one business pitch for the competition.
• The competition is for African entrepreneurs who have set up, managed and owned businesses in Africa or black-owned businesses in the United States. In other words, African entrepreneurs must have played a key role in the creation of the enterprise, have key management roles and have significant assets.
• The competition is for new ideas and business development, with the aim of helping companies that have been registered for at least 6 months to access additional funding. Companies must be at least 5 years old when they submit their application.
• The competition is an initiative for new and future African entrepreneurs on the African continent. Teams must respect the rights of their opponents. The Africa Business Club. @Kelley (ABC @Kelley) reserves the right to disqualify teams that act in an unprofessional manner.

Guidelines

• The sales pitch is limited to a maximum of 7 pages (font 12) of text, excluding the cover, title page and exhibits.  
• The business pitch must follow the Business Pitch ABC @Kelley 2023 format.
• All eligibility criteria may be reviewed by ABC @Kelley on a case-by-case basis for approaches.

Evaluation criteria

After reading the sales pitch, the reader should be able to understand the business idea. The business pitch will be assessed on the basis of three main factors:

• Uniqueness of the business idea
• Clarity of the business idea
• Business viability.

Application

Click here to register

For more information, visit IDEA Pich Competition .