CUBS Students’ Success at International Agri-Business Conference

6 Jul 2026

UCC hosted the International Food and Agribusiness Management Conference in UCC in June and the event, attended by approximately 400 delegates, included an Academic Symposium, a Global Business Forum, a Student Case Competition and Hackathon.

Many UCC academics presented at the Academic Symposium and a highlight of the event was the papers of CUBS PhD students Gidey Kidu Mezgebo and Tesfai Tsegai Kidane being selected as Best Paper Finalists. This was followed by Tesfai being awarded the best paper in the Innovation Category for this work titled ‘When Farmers’ Voices Meet Climate Data: Insights from Eritrea.’ 

Left to Right: Ram Acharya (Best Paper Chair), Tesfai Tsegai Kidane (CUBS student) 

Two CUBS postgraduate teams competed in the Student Case Competition. The groups had 4 hours to review a business case and develop recommendations on how agriculture technological innovation can be commercialized and promoted to increase the productivity of the agri-food sector in Ireland. 

(Left to right)- Nikhil Pratap Singh, Himanaya Bareja, Irene Rweshelwa and Manuel Gracia- Neito and Tesfai Tsegai Kidane (not in photo), who reached the semi-final 

The case study used a scenario-based brief with the teams asked to advise Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture on policies to grow the agri-food sector. 

In the first round, the teams reviewed global innovation models used to advance agri-food businesses, and they were to recommend those most suitable for Ireland. The semi-final involved comparing how other countries use a specific infrastructure element to support ag-tech startups in Ireland. The teams chose the most critical infrastructure element and presented a realistic, data-backed plan with the case’s defined output metrics. 

Left to right: Do Thi Tra My, Pratikshaa Saikia, Apalang Yak Deng Ater, Thelonious Ghassan Hurley