24-year-old Bilha Wanjira Kirera was born and raised in the village of Difatha, just 10 kilometers west of Embu, an important economic and cultural center in the Eastern Province of Kenya...
Read moreTopics: Africa | Next Generation Jobs |
24-year-old Bilha Wanjira Kirera was born and raised in the village of Difatha, just 10 kilometers west of Embu, an important economic and cultural center in the Eastern Province of Kenya...
Read moreTopics: Africa | Next Generation Jobs |
Intern Pierre Ndabazi of Cocahu, a coffee cooperative in Rwanda, trains coffee farmers on coffee pruning. Photo credit: Gladys Thitu/Root Capital Young people in rural communities are struggling. There are few jobs-and those that exist are seen as low-paying, sporadic, and unfulfilling. It’s no wonder so many youth leave rural areas behind. Their parents can barely make ends meet. Crop…
Read moreTopics: Next Generation Jobs |
2023 was a year of sustained progress for Root Capital, thanks to our dedicated community of supporters. As we enter 2024-a milestone year as we celebrate our 25th anniversary!-we reflect on our top five highlights from the past year. Leonor Gutiérrez, Director of the Women in Agricultural Initiative (WAI), presents to the Women’s Council at a convening in Nairobi, Kenya,…
Read moreTopics: Climate Action | Gender Equity | Next Generation Jobs |
Today is International Youth Day, a day designated by the United Nations to celebrate the potential of youth as partners in our global society. The global youth population currently stands at 1.8 billion—the largest in history—with 88% living in developing countries. Youth are essential to the future of rural communities, particularly in developing countries, where they serve as an indispensable local talent pool for agricultural enterprises with aging workforces...
Read moreTopics: Next Generation Jobs |
As the youth population explodes worldwide, Root Capital is turning a demographic challenge into an opportunity for impact. Jobs in rural communities are often low paying and sporadic, with little opportunity for advancement-prompting many young people to migrate. Root Capital’s Talent Partnerships program places young graduates into internships at local agricultural enterprises, creating a win/win situation: jobs for the next…
Read moreTopics: Africa | Next Generation Jobs |
Root Capital’s innovative advisory services are powered by our talented team of advisory consultants. These trainers work closely with agricultural businesses to address the day-to-day challenges of running a remote enterprise. Working together, they build skills and processes that foster growth and resilience in the long term. One of these advisors is Ousmane Sané, known as Sané, who’s been a…
Read moreTopics: Advisory Services | Africa | Client Spotlight | News and Announcements | Next Generation Jobs | Partnerships |
Duban Gómez Alvarado grew up expecting to one day enter the family business: coffee farming. The Alvarados have worked the flourishing fields of western Colombia for generations—but, in recent years, climate change has imperiled their crop yields. Simultaneously, the global coffee price has plummeted below the cost of production, leaving many farmers without a livable income. “For many years, we have been coffee farmers in my family,” Duban says, “but I am not convinced at the prospect of continuing with my family’s work.”
Read moreTopics: Client Spotlight | Next Generation Jobs | Partnerships | South America |
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.
Read moreTopics: Advisory Services | Africa | Next Generation Jobs | Partnerships |
Over the past 20 years, we’ve offered hundreds of coffee businesses the capital and training they need to succeed. But to truly maximize their impact, these businesses sometimes require additional support. That’s why, in partnership with USAID Feed the Future, we launched a Resilience Fund that provides $20,000 grants to some of our highest-performing client businesses in Colombia and Peru.
Read moreTopics: Client Spotlight | Next Generation Jobs | South America |
This post originally appeared on the blog of the Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab. Each year, more than 10 million young people across Africa enter the job market, competing for just three million formal jobs. As the continent’s youth population swells steadily towards a projected total of 800 million by 2050, this demographic crisis will intensify even further.
Read moreTopics: Advisory Services | Africa | Next Generation Jobs | Partnerships |