AYuTe africa challenge Senegal 2026: Regional finals to reveal the agritech champions

The regional final of the Northern zone of the AYuTe Africa Challenge competition was held in Saint-Louis, confirming Heifer International’s desire to bring agricultural innovation closer to the territories. Objective: to bring out technological solutions carried by young people to meet the challenges of producers.

The fifth edition of the AYuTe Africa Challenge Senegal competition reaches a new stage with the organization of the regional finals.

In Saint-Louis, young entrepreneurs, students and players in the agricultural ecosystem came together around the same challenge: offering innovative solutions to serve the rural world. Responsible for monitoring and evaluation at Heifer International Senegal, Abdoulaye N’Diaye recalled the spirit of the initiative. “The objective of this competition is to give opportunities to young people,” he explained. According to him, the program is based on a study carried out since 2022 in nine African countries to assess the integration of technologies in agriculture.

“In Senegal, Gaston Berger University and the University of Ziguinchor were involved in this study,” he said. The findings of the study revealed two major challenges: the low presence of young people in the agricultural sector and the still limited adoption of innovations by producers. For Abdoulaye N’Diaye, the competition therefore aims to allow young people to express themselves more and to contribute to improving the living conditions of producers at the local level. The program targets young people aged 18 to 35 who bring innovative agricultural solutions with a concrete impact on producer practices. The big news in this fifth edition is the decentralization of the regional finals. “This is part of the territorialization policy to approach the contexts of producers and see how young people from these areas address specific issues,” explained the Heifer monitoring-evaluation manager.

After the regional finals, the selected candidates will participate in a three-day bootcamp in Thiès to strengthen their projects. “This bootcamp will make it possible to strengthen their projects, particularly on the business plan and the business model,” he indicated. In total, Heifer mobilizes $125,000 per year, approximately 70 million FCFA for this initiative, with rewards of up to 16 million FCFA, including 8 million for the first prize.

“The winning projects are those which really respond to producers’ problems,” insisted Mr. N’Diaye. Partner of the competition, the incubator of Gaston-Berger University of Saint-Louis plays an important role in mobilizing talent. Its communications manager, Ndimby Diop Faye, recalled the constancy of the partnership. “Since the first edition of this competition, we have supported awareness and mobilization activities,” she explained. According to her, the incubator acts as a local catalyst.

“We are strongly mobilizing entrepreneurs and innovative students to encourage them to participate in the development of the locality of Saint-Louis,” she explained. Even in the absence of direct training dedicated to the competition, the incubator supports candidates from the northern zone. “The pre-selected entrepreneurs belonging to the UGB community are supported in entrepreneurship to better participate in the competition,” explained Ms. Diop Faye.