Participants will arrive at the venue and receive their badges. During this time, they can begin networking right away, and wake up with a cup of coffee or tea.

Speakers include Steven Collet, head of the DDE department of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Michiel van Erkel, from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Netherlands (LNV),  and Bart Steenhuijsen Piters, senior research coordinator at Wageningen Economic Research. Another keynote speech will be given by Isolina Boto, country director Brussels of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). There will also be a presentation given by Thibaut Roussel from Orange. We will also hear from Aichatou Nasser (Ferme Semancière Aïnoma).

The theme of this year’s panel discussion will be: ‘Leapfrogging the agricultural transformation in Francophone Africa: opportunities and challenges’. Panelists include Thibaut Roussel from Orange, Aichatou Nasser from Ferme Semanciere Ainoma Niger, Isolina Boto from CTA, and Kirsten Coppoolse from The Fork/Blockchain.

This is your perfect opportunity to informally meet up with potential business partners, suppliers or clients.

Very inspiring and interesting topics will be discussed during the first round of workshops. The topics are: Healthy and resilient soils, Climate adaptive food systems, Agritech – Geodata, Remote Sensing, AgriDrones, Optimise your feedmix and Reducing post-harvest losses.

Another opportunity to informally meet up with potential business partners, suppliers or clients is during the lunch break.

During this session we will be discussing ‘Investing in agricultural innovation in Francophone Africa’. We hear from Mr. Pierre Schoonenberg of Rabobank, Moussa Touré from the Investment Promotion Agency of Mali (API-Mali), Ben White from Venture Capital for Africa (V4CA), and Rouffahi Kaobo from CIPMEN.

Networking during the afternoon coffee break.

The second round of workshops will be region and country sessions. There will be a focus on Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Côte d’Ivoire.

The official closing ceremeony of the FAB Forum 2019. What have been the main lessons learned today?

After an exciting day packed with speeches, workshops and other informative content, it is now time to refresh during the networking reception.