Costs

As part of a market-based facilitation process, RAS can work with agripreneurs at almost no additional cost, as this is more about a shift in mindset and including agripreneurs in the network of partners. However, as RAS become more involved with agripreneurs, incubation, and accelerators, costs may include the following:

• Capacity building – to equip existing RAS personnel with the new skills and competencies needed for enterprise development and business facilitation.
• Human resources – hiring new staff to support agripreneurs through networking, coaching, and mentoring.
• Supporting events – including agripreneur workshops, agripreneur competitions, and incubator programmes.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

• Location – RAS work in areas where agripreneurs are located.
• Reach – pluralistic RAS (which may include government, civil society, and private service providers) have the ability to work with large numbers of agripreneurs and different segments, to provide inclusive support.
• Trust – RAS have long-term relationships with the agricultural community.
• Cost effectiveness – RAS can provide support at a cost that is accessible to target clients.

Weaknesses

• Business skills – the lack of business skills within traditional RAS means that training will be needed.
• Coordination – in the pluralistic context, coordination among the various RAS actors can be weak.
• Inclusiveness – agro-enterprise methods and tools may at times inherently lack inclusiveness for more vulnerable groups that cannot make the investments needed.