Oribi Village, a non-profit company based in Cape Town and its surrounding townships, is calling for entrepreneurs to apply for its new food incubation programme.
In response to the COVID-19 crisis in March this year, Oribi Village, which supports local social entrepreneurs, unveiled a 21-day #BridgingTheGaps challenge in conjunction with the Southern Africa Food Lab and Wakanda Food Accelerator. The objective was to proactively address and reshape how food is produced, distributed, processed, and consumed in South Africa.
Ellen Fischat, MD of Oribi Village, says during the 21-day challenge, her organisation called all innovators and food sector actors to work together, in light of the impact of COVID-19.
Oribi Village and its partners
are now extending the objectives of #BridgingTheGaps Challenge and seeking innovative, sustainable food solutions that can be developed to address challenges in the current industry.The new incubation programme will last nine months and will consist of ten selected participants, whose services contribute to positive change within SA’s current food system. Among these ten, two are the winners of the initial #BridgingTheGaps challenge - FoodFlow and Orderkasi.
Partners and industry experts such as the French Embassy, Abalobi and Sapientt are part of the movement and will host master classes and bring international market access
to the participants, says Fischat.The incubation programme, which will begin on 5 August, is a virtual one, to ensure entrepreneurs from around South Africa can benefit.
The call for applications kicked off on 11 June and will close on the 20 July, and those wishing to apply can do so here.