2026 THE FOOD & ENERGY SOVEREIGNTY CHALLENGE

Applications are now open for the 2026 African Union (AU) Food and Energy Sovereignty Challenge. This Call for Solutions constitutes a large-scale industrial mobilization aimed at propelling African technological ingenuity to secure the continent’s food and energy future. The African Union is mobilizing the “Sovereignty Builders”: an elite cohort of high-growth SMEs, Startups, and Deeptech companies
possessing the technical maturity to transform proof-of-concepts into structural pillars of the African
continental market.

Focus Areas

• Track A: Innovation for Food Sovereignty

• Track B: Innovation for Energy Sovereignty

Eligibility
Applications will be accepted from citizens of AU Member States leading an organization that meets
the following mandatory requirements:

1. Nationality and Ownership: The company must be at least 51% owned by African citizens
   (whether residing on the continent or part of the diaspora).

2. Legal Standing: The entity must be legally registered.

3. Technological Maturity: The solution must have a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6 or
   higher (proven prototypes or market-active solutions).

4. Sector Alignment: The innovation must strictly focus on either Food Sovereignty or Energy Sovereignty as defined in the Challenge tracks.

Benefits

Selected innovators will gain access to an unprecedented growth engine to transform their solutions
into continental champions:

• Industrial Scalability: Dedicated support to expand production capacity from current stages
  to robust, continental-scale industrial output.

• Market Access: Institutional support to facilitate the acquisition of national and regional
  public procurement contracts to anchor solutions in public infrastructure.

• Influence and Finance Networking: Targeted matchmaking with Venture Capital (VC) firms,
  institutional investors, and privileged access to high-level government decision-makers for
  strategic deal-making.

• Trade and Industry Missions: Inclusion in official African Union delegations for premier
  international business, trade, and innovation forums.

• High-Level Visibility: Featured publication in the « Africa Food & Energy Sovereignty Catalog
  2026″.

Submission Requirements:
To ensure a standardized and efficient evaluation of the expected volume of applications, all
submissions must adhere to the following strict constraints:

• Problem Statement (300 words max): Concise definition of the specific food or energy
  sovereignty bottleneck being addressed.

• Innovation & Implementation (500 words max): Detailed description of the solution’s
  functionality, revenue model, and explicit alignment with the « Soil and Energy » nexus.

• Impact & Outcomes (500 words max): Report on verifiable performance, job creation
  potential, and contribution to climate resilience.

• Technical Documentation:
  o Pitch Deck (PDF): Max 5MB (optimized for 10-12 slides).
  o Video Demonstration: Max 50MB (strictly 3 minutes) or a secure external link.
  o Legal & IP Proof: Max 2MB per file). Scanned copies of operating licenses and
  patent/IP certificates