The agriculture sector is one of the pillars of Mongolian economy, which comprises 13% of the country’s GDP and 26% of the total Mongolian workforce. It is also an important sector that ensures food safety and nutrition for the people. "Agripreneurship Challenge" was organized with the aim to increase youth participation and seek innovative products and solutions for the agriculture sector.

This initiative is being organized as part of the European Union funded, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations implemented, “SDG - Aligned Budgeting to Transform Employment in Mongolia” project.

The competition continued for three months to select innovative start-up businesses. More than 100 enterprises from 21 provinces and Ulaanbaatar registered, however 8 companies moved to the final stage and presented their business pitch at “Demo day” event on 7 March, 2023.  The final results of the challenge:

Winner is Airee Felt LLC with their wool air filter product

1st runner-up is Magic Bee Foods LLC with their anti-inflammatory, pain relieving and restoring bee extract ointment

2nd runner-up is Speck Materials LLC with their upcycled dung paper.

The three companies will receive a total of MNT 50 million in seed funding, and “SDG - Aligned Budgeting to Transform Employment in Mongolia” project will continue to incubate them in expanding their innovative products in national and international market.

Please follow the link below for company and product presentations of the top 8 participants. https://bit.ly/3T3fYJU

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Project information

The “SDG-aligned budgeting to transform Employment in Mongolia” project is the technical assistance (TA) component of the Budget Support Programme in Employment Reforms that the European Union (EU) has signed with the Government of Mongolia. The purpose of the project is to provide effective, accountable, and responsive public services in the field of labor relations and the employment sector. It will also support the reform of the budget and financial management system and the strengthening of institutional capacity.The TA project is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as technical lead, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Government partners of the project are the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry.