High in Rwanda’s southern mountains, farmers grow some of the highest-quality coffee on Earth. The volcanic soil gives beans a rich flavor that commands a premium price on the international market. But this specialty coffee is at risk-as are the livelihoods of the 400,000 smallholder farmers in the country who depend on it. According to Jean Baptiste Munezero, the agronomic…
Read moreTopics: Advisory Services | Digital Business Intelligence | East Africa | Environment | Stories of Impact |
Erick Sakwa (L) walks a field of recently harvested sorghum with a farmer during a visit to a Root Capital-financed enterprise in Kenya. At the risk of stating the obvious: Running a small business is a lot of work. Entrepreneurs and staff—often pressed for time, money, and resources—devote most of their energy to keeping the lights on, leaving little time…
Read moreTopics: Advisory Services | East Africa | Our Community | Staff Profiles | Women in Agriculture |
Eighty kilometers outside of Nairobi, the Patel family’s macadamia factory buzzes with activity. In 2016, Mehul and Chirag Patel founded macadamia processing business Rainsun Nuts; every year since, they’ve doubled their sales. Between their office in Nairobi and their factory in the rural town of Sagana, they’ve created jobs for dozens of people—the majority of whom are women, and many of whom are under 35.
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The saw makes a grinding sound as Albert, a young Ugandan agronomist, maneuvers it back and forth slowly, cutting through the trunk of the coffee tree. His colleague Ambrose stands next to him, bracing the tree and readying himself to carefully lower it to the ground once the trunk is severed. They repeat the process, one, two, three times for a single tree, cutting away three small trunks almost to the stump—until there’s just a single spindly-looking branch remaining.
Read moreTopics: East Africa | Environment | Partnerships | Stories of Impact |
Photo: USAID/Siegfried Modola Root Capital and the IKEA Foundation are announcing a new partnership, worth €4.8 million, to help 260,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda increase their income and adapt to climate change. The grant builds on the success of a previous partnership, through which Root Capital supported dozens of Kenyan agricultural businesses, helping them break the cycle of poverty in rural communities.
Read moreTopics: East Africa | Environment | Livelihoods | News and Announcements |
No woman should have to choose between caring for her children and pursuing a fulfilling career. In this Kenyan village, working mothers found a way to do both.
Read moreTopics: East Africa | Partnerships | Stories of Impact | Women in Agriculture |
On a warm, breezy day in the sleepy Congolese city of Bukavu, I find myself on the back of a boda-boda motorcycle taxi, puttering down the unpaved city streets on my way to the National Office of Coffee. Down every alleyway I catch glimpses of the morning sun glimmering off of the calm waters of Lake Kivu. It’s the first day of “Saveur du Kivu,” a celebration of the reemergence of specialty coffee in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the country’s premier coffee event. I’m here representing Root Capital, which happens to be the largest coffee lender in the region.
Read moreTopics: East Africa | Peace | Stories of Impact |
On a summer evening in Cambridge, MA, author, educator, and former ambassador Swanee Hunt sat down with activist Chantal Kayitesi and Root Capital founder and CEO Willy Foote to discuss the important role that women have played in Rwanda’s recovery from conflict. Hunt is the author of Rwandan Women Rising, a book she wrote to celebrate the visionary women who are paving the road to Rwanda’s recovery and reconciliation in the wake of the 1994 genocide.
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Pathological collaboration. It’s a phrase we use frequently at Root Capital — a phrase that speaks to our willingness to embrace partnerships in order to expand economic opportunities for as many smallholder farmers as possible. Earlier this year, I got to see that approach in action.
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Hills rise into the sky in the coffeelands of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Looking out the window as my taxi jostles along a bumpy dirt road that winds from Goli to Ndrele town through the hills of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), I’m struck by the peaceful scenery that surrounds us. Grassy hills spotted with groves of trees and small gardens of banana, maize, and coffee trees rise gently into the horizon, stretching for miles on either side of the road. However, this region’s apparent tranquility belies a violent past — and scars that a few scrappy businesses are fighting against all odds to heal.
Read moreTopics: East Africa | Peace | Stories of Impact |
