Do you want to be able to build trust that leads to sustainable business relationships? Do you want to help negotiate better deals? Then this is the course for you! 

Successful projects, collaborations and business advisory services not only assist smallholder farmers and agri-entrepreneurs in making substantial and sustainable profit, they also assist them in doing it more efficiently. Preparing Farmers and agri-entrepreneurs for a successful future beyond the terms of a contract, project or collaboration is not always easy. This course gives you the knowledge and tools to make real impact and develop longterm business relationships. 

Welcome to our 'Making Agribusiness Work' course, which will help you to contribute to local entrepreneurial development and food security. Over the years, iCRA experienced that many business advisory services and organisations find it hard to attract new clients and projects. They need to invest a lot of time in search for new funding, while they rather use that time to support small-scale producers and processors - and doing the work they love and do best.

This course is designed to help you just that - Develop skills and strategies for your work and funding to focus on what you love: Fuelling and inspiring the agribusiness sector to fulflil its full potential!

The secret of successful service providers is that they go beyond a one-of-training and invest in sustainable and financially viable relations.

What kind of course is this?

The course will provide you with concrete skills that you may immediately apply in your work: 

• You will learn how to build trust to establish sustainable business relationships among farmers, agri-entrepreneurs, lenders, and input and service providers;
• You will improve your negotiation skills and this will make you more confident in helping farmers, agri-entrepreneurs etc.. to draft contracts, and pave the way for better business deals;
• You will get practical tips on how to secure a stable flow of income for your support services.

Making Agribusiness Work is offered in English and in French. For more information about the French course go here

Course content

Week 1 - Business concepts & skills
Main Topics:

• Setting up local business networks
• Building and maintainig profitable business relationships
• Developing a business plan
• Field visit and real life case: learning about public-private partnerships aiming at local processing enterprises, sourcing from farmers in the region

Week 2 - Brokering and facilitation skills
Main topics:

• Negotiation and conflict handling
• Coaching skills
• Durable contracting
• Brokering in value chain partnerships 

Very practical and necessary for innovation strategies in agribusiness enterprises. Uses real life situations and examples to bring theory into reality. The reality of life.

- Flaviano Chikonyora: iCRA Alumni Kenya course 2018 

Who can attend this course?

The course is specially designed for professionals who...

• Are practitioners and field staff from business and organisations supporting agribusiness actors with the goal of contributing to local entrepreneurial development and food security.
• Work in a business context in the agri-sector and want to contribute to local entrepreneurial development and food security.
• Are ambitious and want to make a change
• Are proficient in English

Read here about our course locations - Ibadan, Nigeria (June 2019) & Nakuru, Kenya (November 2019)

For more information on this course in Benin, please click this link. 

Certification

This course is a recognised NUFFIC course and therefore qualifies for OKP & MENA Scholarships. Each course participant will receive a certificate of attendance after successfully completing the course.