Stories tagged: entrepreneurship

The Business of Bee Keeping in Botswana

To celebrate International Women’s Day we are profiling young entrepreneur Tshepiso Marumo, from Botswana, who has been keeping bees and producing honey based products since 2007. We find out about the challenges she has faced to get her business off the ground, and the tips she has for aspiring agriculture entrepreneurs. 

This blog is part of an ongoing partnership with the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD).

When Tshepiso began her beekeeping business in her spare time, while a university student studying for a management degree, her family was not convinced this was going to a viable career choice. Like many young people, she was encouraged to stick to her studies and get a white-collar job. But Tshepiso was undeterred. She enrolled in a beekeeping course run by the Ministry of Agriculture, and started saving her allowance and investing in the stock market to raise the capital to start-up her business. Continue reading →

Stephanie Brittain: “When I Grow Up… I Want To Be A Plant Scientist”

In this guest post, Stephanie Brittain of Agriculture for Impact outlines the need to encourage more young Africans to study the agricultural sciences, as a route to a food secure and prosperous continent.

In 2012, sub-Saharan African countries’ food import bill reached US$37.7 billion. Turning Africa into a food producer rather than food importer will depend on many things: reenergizing African soil that is highly degraded, improving the flow of resources to smallholder farmers, and finding jobs for Africa’s ballooning young population. Continue reading →

Katrin Glatzel: Using Education to Create a Generation of “Agripreneurs”

In this guest post, Dr. Katrin Glatzel, Innovation Officer at Agriculture for Impact, discusses recommendations laid out by the latest report from the Montpellier Panel “Small and Growing: Entrepreneurship in African Agriculture” which is launching today.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the youngest population in the world aged 14 to 24, which could reach 265 million by 2050. Sadly, over 70% of young people in Africa live on less than US$2 per day and underemployment is high. Continue reading →