Entrepreneurship

St. Lucian youth cooperative mushrooms into success

by Natalie Dookie

Using temperature-controlled technology and sustainable farming techniques, Marquis River Farm has replaced St. Lucia’s imports of foreign mushrooms with domestic production, while growing local demand by 400%.

Bottling the flavours of Botswana

by Busani Bafana

To reduce fruit waste in Botswana and capitalise on indigenous crops, local enterprise Maungo Craft is producing a range of unique ‘super food’ preserves.

Cotonou capitalises on convenience foods

by Inoussa Maïga

Whilst addressing the problem of post-harvest losses, entrepreneur Aldred Dogue discovered the ready-to-cook vegetable market and established Africa Food Mill to meet growing demand.

Vegetable gardens crop up in Trinidad and Tobago

by Keron Bascombe

Student entrepreneur, Jameel Phillip is creating adaptable food production systems in the Caribbean by setting up small urban gardens that maximise production using space-saving designs.

Farmers eyes in the sky in Cote d’Ivoire

by Emmanuel Maduka

Joseph-Oliver Biley founded drone start up WeFly Agri in January 2017 to help farm and plantation owners regain control of their land.

Chilli exports challenge Rwanda’s post-harvest losses

by Aimable Twahirwa and Sophie Reeve

Young entrepreneur Diego Dieudonné Twahirwa is supplying global markets with his dry chilli and chilli oil products, whilst providing a ready market for local farmers.

Demand grows for plant-based Caribbean products

by James Karuga

Agri-processing companies in the Caribbean are making the most of indigenous fruits and plants to access a home-grown market for food, beverage and cosmetic products.

The sweet smell of success in Madagascar

by Mamy Andriatiana

Mihanta Malala Randriantsoa, the owner of a spice and essential oil export business, is a firm believer in upskilling local staff and suppliers, and her strategy has paid off.

Dried fruits: Tapping into the snack market in Lagos

by Sophie Reeve and Oluyinka Alawode

To address unhealthy snacking in Nigeria, award-winning entrepreneur, Affiong Williams, is providing a healthy alternative with her range of nutritious dried fruit and nut products.

Stimulating production through public-private partnerships

by Aaron Akinocho and Claude Biao

By creating stronger value chains around ‘champions’ in agribusiness, the incubator programme, 2SCALE, is helping small-scale farmers enter local and regional markets and enabling an increase in the scale of production.

Ugandan women escape poverty through rice production

by Busani Bafana

Agnes Atim Apea’s social enterprise, the Hope Development Initiative, is helping poor smallholder women farmers achieve financial independence by providing inputs, technical farming services and a guaranteed market for rice.

Using drones to improve efficiency

An agri-tech start up in Côte d’Ivoire is using drones to help farmers increase production by intelligently managing their plots.

Bottling Mali’s wild plants for nutritious drinks

In 2016, Aïssata Diakité launched Zabbaan Holding – a company that makes juices from plants grown locally in central Mali by over 5,000 farmers.

Spicing up Rwanda’s exports

With innovative products such as chili pepper oil and plantain wine, a Rwandan agri-processing enterprise is gaining global attention.

A passion for porcine production

Accounting for 38% of worldwide meat production, pork is attracting a new generation of African entrepreneurs – bucking the continent’s traditional aversion to the meat.

With Sooretul local products are just a click away

An e-commerce platform in Senegal offers agribusinesses and smallholder farmers access to urban clients looking to buy quality local products.

Building a strong brand makes a business successful

Kasope Ladipo-Ajai co-founded OmoAlata, a Nigerian food packaging business, in 2012. With plans to export products internationally, her company has already redefined the fresh foodstuff business in Nigeria.

Rice provides youth with employment opportunities

by Vincent Defait

Rice farmers in West Africa are using a decision-making mobile app and mechanised service centres to improve their yields and incomes. The sector is also leading the way in tackling the scourge of rural youth unemployment.

Ismaël Tanko turning tomato into red gold

Ismaël Tanko, a 33-year-old entrepreneur, has created a fast-growing company whose tomato purees are already on sale in several West African countries. The next step is a more industrialised production line and an increased number of sales channels.

Don’t leave technology to the men

Dr Eleni Gabre-Madhin, CEO and Founder of blueMoon – Ethiopia’s first youth agribusiness incubator – shares her experience as a woman entrepreneur in Africa’s agricultural sector and stresses the importance that agribusinesses ‘think digital’.