Some business models work well and lead both fresh and tenured entrepreneurs to success. However, there are also business models that simply do not work despite time, effort, or commitment. Statistically, risks are much higher for startup companies. Harvard Business School professor, Shikhar Ghosh, says that 3 of 4 startup companies fail—that is 75 percent—and […]
Over the last two decades, private-public partnerships (PPPs) have become an increasing source of hope and interest in the development of sub-Saharan Africa. According to FAO, the rationale behind PPPs is that the private sector can aid public markets in which the government has failed. In agriculture, this scope is understood to include socio-economic […]
At the World Food Bank, we are proud to work with inspired investors who put their investments to work for both financial and social gains and who believe that impact investments are the best and most sustainable way to make change in the world. DID YOU KNOW? One way that investors can maximize the social […]
According to AgriFin, approximately “$11 billion of investments are needed each year to achieve the desired expansion of agricultural output” in Sub-Saharan Africa, but repeatedly, sources express that financial support is nearly absent in the African agriculture sector. As the World Bank Group explains, “commercial banks and financial institutions have been reluctant to finance agribusiness […]
This month, we’re pleased to introduce you to another one of our Uganda outgrowers, John Tuhamize. John currently resides on his family land, a 1.4 acreage near the World Food Bank’s Mbarara Farm. He is married to his wife Hope and together they have five children, who are all grown. John’s main livelihood has been […]
Building off our previous feature on the insurance sector in Africa’s agricultural value chain, we recently spoke with Joost van der Woerd of the Environmental Analysis & Remote Sensing (EARS) in the Netherlands. EARS works with MUIIS (which stands for Market-led, User-owned ICT4Ag-enabled Information Services), a project led by the Technical Center for Agricultural and […]
According to the 2014 Global Hunger Index report, 805 million people were chronically undernourished between 2012 and 2014 across the globe; however, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa suffer most when compared to the rest of the world. What is more, undernourishment is often paired with hidden hunger or high micronutrient deficiencies that deplete overall health, […]
John Mann is a firm believer that seeds matter, perhaps more than anything else in agriculture. “You can do all the other agricultural interventions, but if you don’t have good seed, it’s not going to matter,” he said. “Every investment that a farmer makes on top of bad seed is wasted.” As the founder of […]
Richard Lackey, the CEO of the World Food Bank, is delighted to announce the appointment of Scott Brown to the role of President of the World Food Bank. Scott brings more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in engineering, banking and microfinance to the World Food Bank team. Through his role as President, Scott […]
We are pleased to report that our leadership team recently returned from a successful trip to Ethiopia where they met with government leaders, local ministries, and nationally-recognized manufacturing companies to discuss our plans to move forward with the production of fortified cereals. WFB plans to manufacture and sell these cereals in Ethiopia in order to […]
