Today 23rd September 2025, RUFORUM convened Business Development Officers from 14 universities (and their affiliate TVETs) implementing the TAGDev 2.0 program for an exposure visit at the TAGDev 2.0 Centre hosted at Egerton University, Kenya. The visit brought together participants from Uganda, Kenya, Benin, Morocco, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Malawi, Ghana, and South Africa, who engaged in knowledge sharing, peer learning, and joint reflection on how African universities are strengthening their innovation and incubation ecosystems. Lessons from the visit were aimed at informing actions on how institutions could effectively deliver business development services to students, communities, and industry partners.
Prof. Nancy Mungai, TAGDev 2.0 program at Egerton university welcome remarks that set the tone for collaborative engagement. Ms. Lois Nanono from RUFORUM emphasized that entrepreneurship is equipping students with the ability to create jobs for themselves and others. She stressed that incubation hubs act as engines of technology transfer and that regional linkages were creating meaningful synergies to strengthen Africa’s innovation landscape.
The visit is part of the RUFORUM’s institutional strengthening initiatives for TAGDev 2.0 Implementing universities &TVETs running from 2023 to 2033 and building on the achievements of TAGDev 1.0 launched in 2016. Since its inception, the program had advanced pillars of community engagement, experiential learning, and entrepreneurship. Institutions learned that an entrepreneurial mindset was acting as the engine of transformation, while creativity, adaptability, and openness to new ideas were reshaping how young people were engaging with agriculture. With TAGDev 2.0, universities are scaling these lessons by forming stronger partnerships, strengthening capacity, and pushing for systemic change.
Fahad Juma the Business & Entrepreneurship officer TAGDev Program Egerton University showcased Egerton University’s entrepreneurial journey, which had moved from the academic era to the current entrepreneurial university era. Egerton built an ecosystem anchored on policy, financing, culture, human capital, and market linkages. Some of the major initiatives that has embraced entrepreneurship in the university include, CESAAM, COELIB, Agro-science park, ROOFURE. Through these initiatives, the university has mentored over 14,000 youth, supported 8,000 entrepreneurs, incubated 3,500 MSMEs, and reached 18,000 farmers, proving that institutionalized entrepreneurship support was delivering real impact.
In a feedback session, participants highlighted how universities are innovating against the odds in resource-constrained environments explaining how resource mobilization, collaborative use of infrastructure, and policy engagement are helping institutions adapt and scale. They stressed that even in challenging contexts, innovation thrive when creativity, networks, and resilience are applied.
The TAGDev 2.0 incubation framework was also discussed, which adopts the Context–Intervention–Mechanism–Outcome (CIMO) approach to address youth unemployment, weak technology transfer, and the growing demand for entrepreneurship. By combining business development services, social enterprise incubation, eco-innovation, and investment support, the framework ensures that incubation is creating sustainable ecosystems rather than one-off startups.
In addition, participants explored how the creative industry engages with agriculture through film, theatre, and media to transform perceptions and contribute to making agriculture attractive to young people as a profitable venture opening new spaces for innovation, market access, and intellectual property protection.
At the end of the exposure visit, discussions revealed that strong incubation hubs required regional collaboration, private sector engagement, and continuous faculty and student retooling. Entrepreneurial mindset should be built across all levels, that is students, staff and decision makers. Participants left with renewed commitment, recognizing that they are collectively fostering innovation, investing in young women & men, and incubating ideas that are transforming Africa’s food systems and economies.
Written By:
Ian Kamau.
Communication Intern, TAGDev 2.0 Program, Egerton University.