http://www.cpe.rutgers.edu/icaat

Rutgers University, in collaboration with Concordia, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Maryland Department of Com-merce, Futures Agribusiness LLC, Biodiversity & Community Initiative, the African Business Portal, and other partners is proud to host the Inaugural International Congress on African Agribusiness & Trade at Rutgers University (ICAAT).

The conference is designed to create opportunities for invest-ments and partnerships in Africa Agribusiness.

The event will especially highlight how to maximize access to partnership and funding sources by aligning with African and international strategic frameworks.

Emphasis will be placed on integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as aligning with objectives of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Devel-opment Programme (CAADP), an integral part of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), is Africa’s policy framework for agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food security and nutrition, economic growth and prosperity for all.

However, this event seeks to step beyond policy discussions and focus on prac-tical solutions by facilitating market-based solutions through partnerships and investments that may be initiated at the Congress.

African leaders will have the benefit of a rich source of technical and scientific information and tools, and access to funding and partnerships. US investors and agribusinesses will learn about opportunities in Africa in this dynamic sector. Par-ticipants have the benefit of a one-stop source where experts will equip them with what’s needed to forge alliances that reap measurable returns.

Practical conference objectives will be to provide access to knowledge and resources to im-prove productivity, and increase access to markets. There will be a strong emphasis on iden-tifying and addressing specific African countrys’ needs and opportunities and in integrating small holders into value chains through partnership and funding opportunities for: mechani-zation, improved inputs, improved education and training, and access to new technologies.

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http://www.cpe.rutgers.edu/icaat

Featured Sessions: P3 - Promoting Partnerships for Supply Chain Transparency and Inclusivity.

Concordia and TechnoServe recently held a discussion on partnerships for agricultural inclusivity as a means to both highlight successful examples of partnerships and identify common partnership obstacles. This roundtable will be used to present a white paper and subsequent research with key findings from that event. Donor entities, private sector actors employing inclusive practices in African agriculture, and NGOs brokering triple bottom line partnerships will gather to discuss shared challenges and opportunities for sustainable supply chains. Participants are invited to share their own partnership experiences in order to think through as a group how to improve inclusivity in African Agribusiness.

Concordia is a nonprofit organization that enables public-pri-vate partnerships to create a more prosperous and sustain-able future. As equal parts convener, campaigner, and idea

incubator, Concordia is creating a new model for how a nonpartisan, nonprofit can have a global impact.

Global Market Panels -Strengthening agricultural cooperatives and exploring Innovations to improve access to finance

The Chamber, in association with John Deere and other US Agribusinesses, will host two panel discussions at ICAAT. The first will focus on opportunities for to expand the use of cooperatives in Africa as a means to connect smallholder farmers into global supply chains. The second will discuss how to utilize emerging innovations to expand access to finance in the region.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation, representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions. The U.S.-Africa Busi-ness Center (USAfBC), housed within the Chamber, is the only

institution of its kind representing the interests of both the U.S. and African business communities, and is a vocal advocate for increased bilateral and regional trade with African nations. The Center is co-chaired by Jay Ireland, president and CEO of GE Africa, and Aliko Dangote, president and CEO, Dangote Group.

The Chamber’s members span the agricultural value chain and are at the forefront of efforts to connect new members into global markets . In doing so, they provide smallholder farmers with opportunities to sell sur-plus production, more easily gain access to finance, purchase value added agricultural products and services, and benefit from knowledge transfer from other members of the value chain.

Interactive Investor’s Workshop - Catalyzing Investments in Africa

Investment companies and investment advisors including TSP Capital, Initiative for Global Develop-ment (IGD). and others, currently holding over $½ billion in assets, will discuss criteria for investors, debt vs. equity, how to sell proposals, how to access credit, risk management, including OPIC loans and risk insurance. Outlook for investments in African agribusinesses, and case studies of investments in Afri-ca. A special emphasis will be placed on Corporate Social Responsibility and why alignment with environ-mental and social safeguards is good business.

Welcome: Conference Co-Chair

Opening Remarks - Rutgers Chancellor, Rutgers Dean of Agriculture

Keynote: “Africa, the Key to Global Food Security”

Morning Presentations and Panels- A business plan must account for local dynamics and inclusion in order to thrive in the African Agribusiness context. Key issues like gender parity, youth engage-ment, land rights, and smallholder farmer access to resources in African Agriculture are all linkages between successful corporate strategy and overarching frameworks.

1. The Business Plan for Transforming African Agriculture -NEPAD/CAADP 2. Establishing Enabling Frameworks to Facilitate Investment and Trade 3. Attracting investments and partnerships by committing to Mutual Account ability - key issues: Gender, Youth, Land Rights, smallholder access to inputs

Morning Case Study Presentations:

1. Rural Development, Community, and Cultural Issues in Guinea (Conakry) 2. Rural women-developed eco-villages in Cameroon, DRC, Zimbabwe Networking Luncheon

Afternoon Sessions: Aligning projects with SDGs to attract funding and partnerships Workshops: 1. Project Proposal Development Training 2. CaseStudy-Organic/FairTradeCoffee 3. Natural Resource Management & Environmental Protection: Protecting Africa’s greatest assets – Its land, forests, watersheds and people.

ICAAT:Day1identifiesandaddresseschallengesinlegalandregulatoryframeworks,aligning business strategy with the U.N. SDGs and African national policy frameworks, and ensuring inclusivity across supply chains are critical to the development of envi-ronments that enable African Agriculture to thrive. This requires understanding and committing to a holistic approach that involves local communities, entrepreneurs, national governments, African and U.N. policy frameworks, multilateral and bilateral donors, foundations, and investors, as well as developing Private-Public Partnerships (P3s) or shared value methodologies.

DAY 1 July 10 - A Business Plan for African Agriculture

ICAAT: Day 2 connects theory with practice, centering on practical applications and opportuni-ties. Discussion will be about supporting the transformation of smallholder subsistence farmers into sustainable agribusinesses by improving productivity, introducing new varietals, promoting mechanization, improving fertilization, utilizing R&D, improving processing and storage to reduce post-harvest losses, and integrating smallholder farmers fully into the agricultural value chain.

Project Proposal Pitch Sessions - A number of project proposals will be presented by African Minis-ters and Entrepreneurs to assembled delegates, and reviewed by a special panel of donors and partner-ship experts. Closing Remarks: The Power of Public-Private PartnershipsSDG 17: Partnerships provides an important framework to bring public and private sectors together around shared challenges. African Agribusiness and Trade presents an opportunity to achieve wide-scale development and economic security across the continent. Partnerships between the govern-ment, local and multinational corporations, and civil society should be leveraged for maximum social impact.

Participants are encouraged to visit posters & exhibits throughout the day

Day 1 July 10 - Continued

Day 2 July 11 - An Agribusiness Tool Kit

Opening Remarks - Conference Co-Chair

Opening Panel – African Ministerial Panel – Summaries of National Agricultural Investment Plans – Opportunities and Challenges. Ministers of Agriculture and Economic Development:

Morning Presentations and Panels- MorningsessionswillcenteronspecificchallengesandopportunitiesinherentintheAfricanagriculturalvaluechain,withaspecificfocusonthecocoaindustry. Case studies will highlight the potential in partnerships and agricultural cooperatives, to includeimprovedmarketaccess,sharedlearningandexpertise,andgreateraccesstofinance.

Africa supplies 70% of the worlds’s cocoa, largely from smallholder subsistence farmers. There is onlyminimalAfricanprocessing,andtherearesignificantenvironmentalandsocialchallenges.Inaddition,thecocoaindustry,alongwithcoffeeissubjecttosignificantpressurefromconsumersand corporate stockholders to demand transparency in the value chain. In this regard the African cocoa industry also provides important examples of Private/Public Partnerships and corporate and philanthropic commitments to address these issues.

1. P3 Panel-Promoting Partnerships for Supply Chain Transparency and Inclusivity. 2. Unlocking Potential: Integrating Smallholder Farmers in the Cocoa Value Chain 3. Cocoa Value Chain Case Study

Workshops 1. Climate, Legal, and Institutional Reform Tools (CLIR)- inclusive Value Chain Assessment Tool 2. Climate Smart Agriculture 3. Adding Value – Food Processing

Networking Luncheon - Special Luncheon Roundtable - Developing the “Journal of African Agribusiness”

Afternoon Panels & Presentations: Africa’s entrepreneurial and innovative talent holds answers to some of its biggest agricultural challenges. Case studies on harnessing emerging technology like mobile and biotech, soil science and nutrient management, and climate smart tools and techniques, will present scalable examples of agricultural innovation.

1. A key to African Economoic Revolution - Agro-industrialization & mechanization, 2. Information Access and Management - Outreach, marketing and building out collabo rative networks 3. Energy and Agriculture - the self-reinforcing positive feedback loop driving African economic transformation 4. Addressing Post Harvest Losses through improved processing and Storage

Workshops 1. Cropdiversification 2. The Foundation of Agriculture: Soils and Seeds 3. Shifting cultivators, agroforestry and natural resource management • Project Proposal Pitch Sessions

Participants are encouraged to visit posters & exhibits throughout the day

Day 2 July 11- Continued

Evening banquet - Held at the award winning, Rutgers EcoComplex

Day 3 July 12 - Marshalling Financial ResourcesICAAT: Day 3 will focus on laying the groundwork for investments. Discussion will be about aligning the interests, knowledge, and needs of donors, investors, agribusinesses, African governments and overseas development organizations to increase investment, foster entrepreneurship, identify and address gaps in agriculture food value chains, and improve national and regional agricultural markets. Goalsaretocreateimprovedaccesstocapital,forminnovativesystemsforfinancialtransfers,harnessdiasporaknowledge,forgelocalrelationships,andinstillfinancialcapacityasagatewaytobetterun-derstanding investor needs and objectives.

Keynote - A Growth Opportunity- U.S.-African Partnerships in Agribusiness.

Morning Presentations and PanelsAgricultural earnings represent 30% of GDP across sub-Saharan Africa, making it a key sector of investment.Leveragingopportunityagainstriskiscriticaltoincreaseprivatesectorcapitalflows,bank lending, and international institutional aid. Perspectives on risk and return will help pave a way for increased investment in African Agribusiness.

1. Agropreneurship – African Leadership in African Agribusiness - 2. Risk Mitigation through institutional relationships and sound project design -Utiliz ing OPIC, Export Import Bank, multi-lateral donors, assuring environmental and social safeguards 3. The key to African Economic Revolution - Agro-industrialization & mechanization

Workshops: 1. Interactive Investor’s Workshop - Catalyzing Investments in Africa 2. African Growth & Opportunities ACT (AGOA) – African Ministerial, US State Depart ment, and leadership meeting for preparation and planning of the upcoming AGOA summit to be held in Lome, Togo in August.

Afternoon Panels & Presentations:

Leveraging the Potential of Cooperatives (US Chamber of Commerce)Agricultural cooperatives hold the potential to connect millions of smallholder farmers in Africa into global supply chains. This panel will explore some of the benefits of cooperatives, as well as discuss-ing how to expand their presence within African agriculture.

Scaling Successful Solutions for Financial Inclusion (US Chamber of Commerce)One of the largest barriers to growth for smallholder farmers in Africa remains the lack of access to finance, through which they could scale-up production, hire workers, purchase machinery or purchase value-added inputs. This panel will discuss some of the innovative techniques being deployed by companies to extend finance to smallholder farmers in Africa, as well as how these might be scaled across the continent.

Workshops: 1. Unleashing the hidden Giant – Diaspora 2. Education & Extension Services - Curriculum Development to promote entrepre neurshipandintegratescientificknowledgeintoprojectdevelopment Closing Summaries, Declarations

Field Trip: Muirkirk Research Farm On Day 4 ICAAT VIP Delegates will have an opportunity to experience examples of cutting edge agricultural innovations and technology at Muirkirk Farm in Maryland. In addition, we will be joined by regional government and business representatives interested in developing partnership and trade opportunities.

A key goal of the Inaugural Congress is to develop long-term, ongoing relationships. While many national US Agribusinesses will be represented at the Congress, we especially wish to promote regional relationshipsintheMid-AtlanticStates.FromthefinancialmarketsofNew York, the government and policy institutes of Washington, DC , and the agribusiness New Jersey and Maryland which make up some of the oldest and largest US Agribusiness, including, MARS and Mondelez in New Jersey and Perdue and McCormick in Maryland.

Day 4 July 13 -Field Trip & Promoting Trade Relations

Muirkirk Research Farm

A project of the University of the District of Columbia’s (UDC) College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES).

Itinerary:

Delegates will tour the Muirkirk Farm in the morning. The farm has four mobile greenhouses built on rails, allowing a tractor to move them down a track. The hydroponics system utilizes technology to grow more in smaller spaces and with an increased nutrition value. An aquaponics system grows tilapia and vegetables in a self-sustaining closed loop system. The recently installed a solar panel, a solar well pump and a 5,000-gallon cistern, increases self-sufficiency by generating power for irrigation and fertigation. They have also added an organic compost production facility. The facility also includes an off-Grid Solar Powered Energy Station and modular Cool Cube (Walk-in Refrigerator). Delegates will learn how these systems work, how they may be applied in their own countries and how to access resource and partners to introduce these kinds of technologies and products.

Luncheon made up of products from the farm will be provid-ed to the delegates.

Presentations are scheduled after lunch: Government, aca-demic and agribusiness representatives will present on new technologies and trade opportunities.

Networking opportunities will be scheduled for delegates to share information on their countries’ needs and opportunities.

Speakers , Panelists & Workshop Leaders (alphabetical order):

Victor Adoukonou, President, Togolese Diaspora of the United States

Colonel Ouro-Koura Agadazi, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Water, Republic of Togo

Antoine AGUEGUIA, Ph.D., Former Director of IRAD (Institute for Research on Agriculture for Development, Cam-eroon

Ousseina D. Alidou, Ph.D.. Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures, Rutgers University

William Asiko, Executive Director, Grow Africa

Albert Ayeni, Ph.D., Co-Director International Science and Education, Coordinator, Africa Regional Programs, Rut-gers’ SEBS

Begaa Yendjogi Samuel II, Director of research and entrepreneurship, Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo

Alexander Botting, US Chamber of Commerce, U.S.-Africa Business Center

Ademola Braimoh, CSA Coordinator for the Africa Region at the World Bank

Gabriela Burian, Senior Director Sustainable Agriculture, Monsanto, Sustainability - Global Lead - Strategic Advisor - Food and Agriculture Partnerships, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Alain Cece Camara, Director, Special Investment Fund, Ministry Economy and Finance, Republic of Guinea

Inza Camara, Delegate General of the Economic Promotion of the United States and Mexico, Ivory Coast

Ashley Camhi, President and CEO, Camhi Environmental Consulting

Edward Carr, Professor, International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University

Brian Castleberry, Maryland Department of Commerce

Day 5 July 14 - Partnerships & Trade

On Day 5 there will be a number of business development roundtables and work-shops for VIP and African delegates. In addition ICAAT leadership will support liaison and follow up with potential project partners and investors.

Speakers , Panelists & Workshop Leaders:

CaitlinCorner-Dolloff, International Agriculture Development Manager, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service

Kalamogo Coulibaly, US State Dept., Senior International Economist, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Advisor

Hanne Dalmut, Director of Social Impact, Concordia

Mrs. Kanny Diallo, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Republic of Guinea

Jean Augustin TSAFACK-DJIAGUE. MBA-PM, President, FuturesAgribusiness, LLC

Chief Atem Ebako, Cameroon Enterprises, LLC, Cameroon

Scott Eisner, President of the U.S.-Africa Business Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Martin Ezemma, MBA, Director of International Business, P.G. County Economic Development Corporation

Eugene Faison, CEO at DGridEnergy, LLC

Alexander Gazis, Economic-Commercial Chief, U.S. State Department, AGOA Advisor

Robert Goodman,Ph.D., Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Rutgers University

His Excellency Frederic Edem Hegbe, Ambassadotr of the Republic of Togo to the United States of America.

Michael Hurley, Founder, Biodiversity & Community Initiative, Director of Special Projects, Bonobo Conservation Initiative

Anselm Iwundu, Senior Researcher, Value Chain Governance and Sustainability, Profundo

Victoria Kao, Senior International Trade Specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce

Mukund Karwe, Ph.D., Dean of International Programs, Rutgers University

John Lewis, Ph.D., Managing Director, Terra Global Capital, LLC, Former Director of the USAID Global Bureau’s Office of Agricultural and Food Security (AFS)

Speakers , Panelists & Workshop Leaders:Wanda Lopuch, Chair of the Board, Global Sourcing Council, CEO, MDA Associates, Inc.

Julie MacCartee, Knowledge Management Specialist, USAID Bureau for Food Security

Guy M’Bengue, CEO, Ivory Coast Exports Promotion Association (APEXCI), Président of NEPAD Business Group -West Africa

Anwar Naseem, Associate Research Professor, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University

Leila Ndiaye, Senior Director, Policy, U.S.-Africa Business Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Moise Tamekem Ngoutsop, Ph.D., Sociologist, Yaounde University, Cameroon

James Oehmke, Ph.D., Senior Food Security and Nutrition Advisor, USAID, CAADP Donor Consortium

Thomas Stanley Paluck, Director, TSP Capital Management Group, LLC

Carl Pray, Ph,D,. Distinguished Professor in the Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics Department, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University

Dr. Nguegang Assa Prosper, Lecturer, Canada

David Quinn, Director of Economic Growth and Innovation, Integra, LLC

Laura Scandurra, Director, Development Resources and Disaster Assistance Division, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service

Madam NGO SINHA HONOREE, President of Women in Action, Proprietor and General Manager of Sinatex Enter-prise

April Thompson, Knowledge Management Portfolio Manager, Feed the Future Knowledge-Drive Agricultural De-velopment Project (KDAD), USAID’s Bureau for Food Security

Macani Toungara, Director, Program Development, Technoserve

John Ulimwengu, , Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute

John Waugh, Director, Climate and Environment, Integra, LLC

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Email: icaat@futuresagribusiness.comPhone: (240) 271-8324; (202) 360-5347

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