Dear Oribi Community,
We are excited to share some exciting celebrations and news on the recent month!
After wrapping up our #BridgingtheGaps (#BTG) Innovation Challenge, the 7th of March 2024, and the 20th of April were marked as days where we gathered and celebrated our entrepreneurs and #BTG participants and took up the opportunity to touch base with our network. The successful completion of #BTG and subsequent hosting of our Changemakers social marked significant milestones for us as our #Foodsystems alumni and #BridgingtheGaps challenge participants (based in Johannesburg and Cape Town) got together to break bread, network, and celebrate one another in a graduation ceremony! The social was an inspiring gathering where we witnessed our entrepreneurs connect in person, share their impactful stories, and celebrate their achievements.
Reflecting on the #BTG Innovation Challenge and Days leading up to Launching the 2024 #FoodSystems Programme:
These recent events were a powerful reminder of the transformative power of social entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurs are engaging and committed to impacting their communities. We are honored and feel truly privileged to get the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds and be able to bring them together to discuss challenges, share success stories, form collaborations, inspire one another further, and nurture meaningful connections while being exposed to pathways for developing their businesses and entrepreneurial skillsets. It's incredible to witness the positive change our community is creating!
The BTG Innovation Challenge officially kicked off on February 1, 2024. This year, we were pleased to welcome over 50 entrepreneurs coming from 6 out of the 9 provinces for their participation in our Rapid Innovation Challenge. The challenge was simple: entrepreneurs had to bridge the gap in understanding impact entrepreneurship and SA food systems while fully completing their business model canvas through engaging with various online content and resources and making some new peer connections!
The Challenge ended on the 7th of March, whereafter we set out to organise our #Changemaker Socials and meet with our entrepreneurs in person through doing site visits, which formed part of our selection process.
What we’re up to now and What’s next:
We are now just over a month into our 2024 #FoodSystems Programme, and we have just closed our applications for AfriFOODlinks!
The #FoodSystems program is overall a 9-month program and we are in Phase 1. Based on our Trust Model, our focus during this phase has been the entrepreneur, their mindset, personal development, growth, and further ideation around how to engage and execute business development. The #FoodSystems team is hard at work in implementing all of this, follow our socials to get updates on what we’re up to and who has moved forward to phase 1.
Gratitude and Appreciation:
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined us for these special events, including our alumni, mentors, partners, participants, and guest speakers. Your presence and contributions made the #ChangemakersSocial a resounding success. We also would like to acknowledge our #BTG participants for taking on the challenge and we congratulate our 2024 Cohort of the #FoodSystems Programme for making it in! We are incredibly excited to be working with all of them.
A special thank you to our guest speakers Sandile Tshabalala from Huruma Bantu, and Arthur Mexico of Access Network Africa. Wakanda Food Accelerator for hosting us and providing a venue for the day. We also appreciate the support from Kasi Konnect and Pawa Africa for empowering our entrepreneurs!
Acknowledging Our Partners and Sponsors :
We are grateful to our partners and sponsors at Pulse, Groupe SOS, Agence Française de Développement, Industrial Development Corporation, Gouvernement Monaco, and Denibam for their invaluable support in making the #ChangemakersSocial and Graduation Ceremony, and overall, the #FoodSystem Programme possible.
Thank you for being part of the Oribi family and for your ongoing commitment to creating positive change in our communities.