Despite over ¾ of Africans being farmers or children of farmers, not every African is able to eat three meals per day. Most of that is due to post-harvest losses, with up to ⅓ of the grain and almost ½ of all the fruit and vegetables grown never making it to a plate to eat.
Because of the post-harvest losses, Africa spends tens of billions of dollars per year importing food. Ending this downward spiral of mounting debt ends when Africa is a net exporter of food.
There is far too much friction in funding the existing, homegrown, for-profit solutions to hunger and poverty too often ignored by financial institutions. Not just initial funding, but growth-stage funding and critical financial services.
A solution for all these issues is Africa Eats, a holding company with a diverse set of African food/ag companies supporting hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers, feeding millions of Africans.
Africa Eats does not try solving this problem from scratch, but instead begins with two dozen fledglings (graduates) of Fledge, the global network of conscious company accelerators. Dozens of young, for-profit, growing companies chosen from thousands as most likely to succeed, with impact embedded in their product or service, and who have all received two months of intense training, capital, and follow-on support. Companies which in 2022 earned over $24 million in aggregate revenues and which worked directly with over 100,000 smallholder farmers.
See how it works in more detail and contact us if you are interested in owning a piece of this fast-growing portfolio or if you can help us grow these companies even faster.
Luni and Jumaane, the co-founders of Africa Eats have published a book, “Berkshire Africa” that explains how our unique investment company has applied the learnings of venture capital, business accelerators, and Berkshire Hathaway toward solving hunger and poverty across Africa. We’ve explained this before, in brief, but now have a 160-page book with far more details, including...
Over half of all working age Sub-Saharan Africans work in agriculture. More than 1/3rd in Nigeria, the most populous country. 1/3rd in Kenya. Even 19% in South Africa, despite its head start development. As a comparison, less than 2% of Europeans and less than 2% of Americans work in agriculture. The contribution of agriculture to GDP disproportionate, but that is an artifact of the way GDP is...
Gertrude Matche of Diversity Connector talked with Luni Libes, Africa Eats’ co-founder/CEO about the challenges of solving hunger and poverty in Africa, and the path Africa Eats has taken to impact those pressing issues… as a for-profit investor.
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An increasing number of pioneering businesses and investors operating along forest and agriculture supply chains are leading the charge to transform the deeply flawed dominating economic models for the benefit of people, nature and climate. This report documents and highlights success and lessons learnt from 18 inspiring examples of businesses and investors who are progressing from ‘business as...
Goldenpot aggregates maize from women smallholder farmers in Tanzania, and with it manufactures instant porridge and breakfast cereal. Last month we visited the factory in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Swahili Honey aggregates honey and beeswax from across Tanzania, selling bottled honey in Tanzania and Kenya, and exporting bulk honey and beeswax globally. Last month we visited the factory in Dodoma, Tanzania.
Rogathe Dairy aggregates milk across the Coastal Region of Tanzania, pasteurizing and culturing into yogurt and mtindi. Last month we visited the factory.
africaeats.com/rogathe-dairy//
Agromyx‘s Fonio Flakes are available on Amazon. Fonio is a heritage grain from West Africa. Fonio flakes are a bit like corn flakes, but with smaller kernels and a lot more crunch. Give it a try, they are delicious!
A year ago we touted $24 million in aggregate annual revenues from the bizi for calendar year 2022, up more than three-fold from 2019. For 2023, that total exceeded $36 million, which is more than 5x in four years, and up 60x over the last decade. The bigger growth stories in 2023 were: TRUK Rwanda, which tripled in 2023 to $6.4 million in annual revenues, up from zero four years earlier as the...
It’s almost time for Africa Eats’ annual “Gathering”, where all of the bizi founders fly to Nairobi for two days of facilitated discussions including a deep dive into building the missing business infrastructure for African SMEs, including a plan to unlock the capital markets. This event is unlike any other we know of. It is the day after Sankalp, but far more interactive...
