The African Food Changemakers (AFC) has officially launched the “Building Resilience Against Climate and Environmental Shocks” (BRACE) program, an intensive capacity development program designed to support African small and medium entrepreneurs (agriSMEs) in the agribusiness landscape to be aware about how their businesses are affected by climate change and to enable them develop strategies to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change through climate-smart practices. Leveraging on ICT, data, and innovation, BRACE will empower agriSMEs through training and technical support, to implement sustainable solutions to scaling their agribusinesses.

BRACE is a three-month program that will leverage a hybrid learning experience to engage AgriSMEs through training, peer-learning, and practical applications. The program is open to AgriSMEs between the age of 18 – 40 years with a registered Agribusiness operating in Africa.

Speaking at the program launch event, which was held on Thursday 6th April 2023, Ms. Ayobami Oladipo from Ignitia, Dr. Linda Ogallo from IGAD, and Ms. Mbali Nwoko from Green Terrace all stressed the need for Agribusiness to build resilience and sustainable agribusiness model in the face of climate change threatening the food and agricultural ecosystem.

According to the Founder and Executive Chair of the African Food Changemakers who conceived the idea for BRACE, Mrs. Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, "We are excited about this program and the impact it seeks to achieve on the ecosystem”.

Training Objective

The program aims to help SME agribusinesses to:

• Gain awareness about climate change,
• Develop strategies to adapt to the effects of climate change,
• Develop and deploy mitigation strategies against climate change,
• To gain insights into climate financing opportunities.

Program Components

• Deployment of a diagnostic tool to assess their level of awareness regarding the impact of climate change on their agribusinesses, familiarity with, and readiness to deploy, existing local solutions in the landscape.
• A self-paced six (6) week online learning program with relevant, and practical climate curriculum developed by climate and industry experts
• Hands-on practical assignments that cumulatively result in the ‘greening’ of participants' agribusinesses to better position them to leverage climate financing opportunities in the ecosystem.
• Engagement in a community of practice for networking, peer-to-peer learning, experience sharing, group discussions, assignments, and co-creation of solutions.
• Provision of information, resources, and tools to enable investments and decisions that lead to sustainable climate solutions.
• Opportunity to join the AFC hub community for additional resources, data, funding support, and market linkages to enhance business visibility, profitability, growth, and success.

For more details about BRACE and how to apply, visit: www.brace.afchub.org 

EDITORS’ NOTES: 

About African Food Changemakers (AFC) 

African Food Changemakers (AFC) is a non-profit organization established by Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli that is focused on nourishing Africa and changing global narratives. We enable small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Africa to start and scale resilient and sustainable agribusinesses by providing training, funding opportunities, exposure, trade linkages, and fostering a vibrant community of entrepreneurs.

For more information about AFC, visit: www.afchub.org  

BRACE enquiries: brace@afchub.org   

General enquiries: info@afchub.org