{"id":2000110794,"date":"2026-05-02T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000110794"},"modified":"2026-05-02T12:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T10:00:16","slug":"rwandan-youth-agritech-innovators-win-rwf-65-million-in-ayute-africa-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwandan-youth-agritech-innovators-win-rwf-65-million-in-ayute-africa-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwandan youth agritech innovators win Rwf 65 million in AYuTe Africa Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The final event took place on April 30, 2026, featuring five finalists selected from an initial pool of 1,200 applicants. The challenge is designed to support youth-led innovations that improve productivity and efficiency in the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grand prize of Rwf 30 million was awarded to Mutoni Goodluck for her project, Goodness of God Ltd, which produces natural hair care oils designed to promote hair growth and maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutoni explained that she began experimenting with her products in 2019 and officially entered the market in 2024. Her oils are made from natural ingredients including onions, ginger, and garlic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted that sourcing raw materials requires close collaboration with farmers from land preparation to harvest, a process that initially limited her production capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were working with about 120 farmers. During dry seasons, production would drop due to limited yields,\u201d she said. \u201cWith this support, we plan to organize farmers into groups and train them so we can improve production and ensure consistent supply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isidore Niyigirimpuhwe won second place and received Rwf 20 million for his project, Tech Plus, which focuses on developing egg incubator machines capable of hatching chicks after 21 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His innovation includes machines with different capacities, ranging from 120 eggs to large-scale incubators holding up to 40,000 eggs. He said the funding will help increase production capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had many clients, but building one machine used to take three to four days. Now we aim to scale up so that we can produce at least one machine per day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muyumbano Happy Axel secured third place with Rwf 15 million for his project, Ampere Vision, which develops agricultural drones used for spraying pesticides on crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each drone can cover up to 18 hectares per day, significantly improving efficiency in pest control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the funding will help expand production to meet growing demand. \u201cWe had limited drones, which made it difficult to serve many farmers. Now we can scale up because our main challenge was access to equipment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other finalists included Josiane Mujawayesu, who is developing organic fertilizer from biodegradable waste combined with insects such as worms and flies that she breeds for this purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another finalist, Abdu Usanase, presented a digital platform that helps farmers calculate the quantity of seeds needed and also supports storage solutions that allow crops such as potatoes to be preserved for up to six months without spoiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government and partners emphasize collaboration<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Dr. Ndabamenye Telesphore, highlighted that young people are increasingly understanding their role in agriculture through innovation and encouraged collaboration among entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a youth platform in agriculture that brings together everyone from farmers to exporters. What we always encourage is teamwork and partnerships between complementary projects so that profits can grow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verena Ruzibuka, Country Director for Heifer International Rwanda, noted that even participants who did not win are still supported through other programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven those who do not win continue to benefit from other initiatives that help them expand their markets. For example, we work with mushroom farmers and connect them to solve shared challenges,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that young entrepreneurs also receive continuous mentorship to help strengthen and scale their businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Mutoni Goodluck received the Rwf 30 million grand prize at the AYuTe Africa Challenge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Products developed by Mutoni Goodluck, winner of the grand prize at the AYuTe Africa Challenge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Verena Ruzibuka, Country Director for Heifer International Rwanda, noted that even participants who did not win are still supported through other programs.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Muyumbano Happy Axel won Rwf 15 million prize at the AYuTe Africa Challenge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Muyumbano Happy Axel explains how his agricultural drone operates.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Dr. Ndabamenye Telesphore, encouraged youth participation in agriculture innovation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Abdu Usanase presents his digital platform helping farmers determine required seeds based on expected yields<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Josiane Mujawayesu explains her organic fertilizer project combining waste and insects such as flies and worms<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Isidore Niyigirimpuhwe, inventor of an egg incubation machine, wins second prize of Rwf 20 million<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Promising but emerging innovation project was recognized and supported for further development<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The third edition of the AYuTe Africa Challenge concluded with awards given to outstanding agricultural innovations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Agriculture, Youth and Technology (AYuTe Africa Challenge), a competition aimed at promoting agricultural innovation and technology among young people in Rwanda, has concluded with three outstanding projects sharing a total prize of Rwf 65 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000110805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000110794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000110805,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mutoni_goodluck_yatsindiye_igihembo_nyamukuru_cya_miliyoni_30_frw_muri_atute_africa_challenge-0695c.jpg","alt":"","caption":"Mutoni Goodluck received the Rwf 30 million grand prize at the AYuTe Africa Challenge","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":667,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mutoni_goodluck_yatsindiye_igihembo_nyamukuru_cya_miliyoni_30_frw_muri_atute_africa_challenge-0695c.jpg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mutoni_goodluck_yatsindiye_igihembo_nyamukuru_cya_miliyoni_30_frw_muri_atute_africa_challenge-0695c.jpg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mutoni_goodluck_yatsindiye_igihembo_nyamukuru_cya_miliyoni_30_frw_muri_atute_africa_challenge-0695c.jpg","width":768,"height":512},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mutoni_goodluck_yatsindiye_igihembo_nyamukuru_cya_miliyoni_30_frw_muri_atute_africa_challenge-0695c.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mutoni_goodluck_yatsindiye_igihembo_nyamukuru_cya_miliyoni_30_frw_muri_atute_africa_challenge-0695c.jpg","width":1000,"height":667}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000110794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000110809,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110794\/revisions\/2000110809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000110805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000110794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000110794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000110794"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000110794"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000110794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}