O-Farms

O-Farms: making the most of food

O-Farms is a business accelerator program with the goal of making circularity a mainstream approach for improved rural livelihoods and sustainability

Partners

IKEA Foundation
Village Capital

Expertise

Inclusive Business Empowerment
Circular Economy

Sectors

Nutrition and Agriculture

Markets

Kenya
Uganda

Timeline

2021 to 2023

Making circular agriculture common practice

The demand for food products in East Africa is steadily increasing. At the same time, the current footprint of food production is getting too high compared to the finite resources the planet possesses for the production of food. This calls for a shift from a linear approach to food production to a circular approach. The adoption of circular approaches to food production however is going slow. 

We believe that the driving force to change this lies with food producing SMEs, who produce most of the food. When we can inspire and capacitate this group to work in an innovative way on circular food production, we believe we can contribute to making circularity a mainstream approach to food production in East-Africa. This will not only make food production in the region future-proof, it will also create new economic opportunities for the private sector.

Impact

Accelerating circular agribusinesses in Kenya and Uganda

39 companies supported

On bringing circular innovation to market

Play Video

Scaling up circular

Duration: 3 minutes
Watch our short O-Farms film with highlights from our event Scaling Up Circular, held at Baraza Media Lab in Nairobi in June 2022. Hear from O-Farms partners and participants about how we’re moving circular agribusiness from margin to mainstream.

Circular Idea Blender

An initiative of the O-Farms project built to inspire entrepreneurs, investors and others in the circular agribusiness ecosystem with real-world examples of companies making food and other useful products out of food waste and by-products from food production. Put your circular ideas and ambitions in the blender and get inspired!

Learn more

Circular Toolkit

The Circular Toolkit by O-Farms provides a set of six practical tools developed for agri-SMEs, entrepreneur support organisations (ESOs), and other practitioners working with circular agribusinesses in low-income markets. The tools support SMEs in finding inspiration for circular product development, assessing their circularity level, discovering opportunities to enhance their circularity, amplify their impact, and increase their revenue.

Learn more

Encouraging circular innovation

Making the most of food! We will call upon local SMEs to think of new ways to valorise agribusiness waste streams in such a way that they make economic sense and bring back essential nutrients at the highest possible level of utilisation. Think of whey being used to increase the nutritional value of yoghurt drinks or creating new food products from rice husks and rice bran. 

 

 

 

 

 

As the first implementing accelerator of the O-Farms program, we believe that the program is a catalyst contributing to structuring agri-circularity in Kenya. The first cohort has access to a tailored circularity curriculum, which will help them define their circular solutions, strengthen their business models, access finance, and form a founding community fighting for better circular economy adoption and supportive laws and legislation. This locally-led cohort will undoubtedly give the contextualised support that African businesses require to grow and scale.

Isabella Tenai, Accelerator Manager, E4Impact
Talk to us

Curious about this project?

Valéria and Rose are happy to tell you more about it.

Valéria Varga
Rose Nduta
Timeline

Project milestones

Discover

In Kenya and Uganda we will gather deep insights into the state of circular agribusiness

Define

Based on these insights, together with 40 SMEs we will define how they can strengthen their circular agribusiness proposition

Develop

With the 40 SMEs we will develop and implement action plans on how best they can bring their circular agribusiness proposition to life and make it scale

Deliver

Ultimately, these 40 SMEs will deliver game-changing new business models for circular agribusiness.

Downloads

Resources

NEW PUBLICATION! O-Farms: Bringing circular agribusiness from margin to mainstream

What are we learning? (November 2022, Learning Note)

O-Farms: Scoping the circular agribusiness potential of East Africa

Our study into the circular agribusiness potential of Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. To access our research reports and factsheet, follow the link below.

O-Farms: The first African SME accelerator completely focused on circular agribusiness

A general overview on the O-Farms program. To download a copy, follow the link below.