Sub-Saharan Africa

In Africa we work in two distinct regions where we are advancing gender equity, creating meaningful jobs for the region's large youth population, and combating climate-related impacts.

In East Africa, smallholder farmers grow coffee, macadamia nuts, and sorghum that powers the economy, as well as local food crops to feed the growing population. These farmers depend on agricultural businesses to help them access domestic and international markets. With a regional office in Kenya and colleagues based throughout the region, we help these businesses grow.

West Africa is a region dominated by farming, with families cultivating everything from cash crops to nutritious local grains. We’re innovating new ways to finance and train agricultural enterprises that buy local food crops—cassava, rice, millet—to feed the region’s rapidly-growing population while also working with businesses to improve livelihoods for the region’s cocoa farmers.

In this region we currently work in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Stories of Impact


How Women Coffee Farmers Are Fighting Climate Change in Uganda

Most people in Western Uganda are farmers, dependent on the land and predictable weather patterns for their livelihoods. But climate change has led to unpredictable weather and increased natural disasters. Intense floods have caused mudslides that devastate farmland, while extreme droughts have dried out coffee berries, affecting crop yields, coffee quality, and, ultimately, the income of farming families.  “At…

Meet a Young Woman Helping Rwandan Coffee Farmers Improve Their Agricultural Practices

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…

Regenerative Agriculture Is Helping This Coffee Co-op Fight Climate Change

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…

How “Talent Partnerships” Unlock Business Growth in Rural Kenya

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.

To Adapt to a Changing Climate, Coffee Farmers Need Bold Allies

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.

How Root Capital and the IKEA Foundation are Building the Resilience of Smallholder Farmers in East Africa

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.