{"id":47489,"date":"2025-11-17T16:05:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T13:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/?p=47489"},"modified":"2026-02-02T12:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:05:19","slug":"shaping-the-future-of-african-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/en_gb\/shaping-the-future-of-african-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaping the Future of African Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"
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    On Wednesday,12th November 2025, Strathmore Agri-Food Innovation Center Community of Practice hosted a Public Lecture with Heifer International under the topic \u201cYouth, Innovation, Partnerships, and Access to Finance: Shaping the Future of African Agriculture.\u201d The event brought together Heifer International President and country staff, university leadership, staff and students for a focused sequence of showcases, leadership addresses and interactive dialogue.<\/p>\n

    Dr. Majid\u2019s opening remarks highlighted SAFIC\u2019s role in advancing livestock and food\u2011systems innovation and noted the efforts of the Community of Practice as a platform that convenes actors from private sector, government, research institutions and development partners to co\u2011create data\u2011driven, technology\u2011enabled, youth\u2011centered solutions, with particular emphasis on data interoperability, data sharing and insight generation<\/p>\n

    \n

    SAFIC\u2019s innovation showcase, led by Joseph Theuri from data science team, demonstrated how interoperable market data and applied analytics can inform investment decisions and program targeting. Heifer Kenya then presented its youth\u2011focused programming; Clarice Bugo\u2011Kionge, Signature Program Technical Lead, spoke to the nexus of youth, innovation and access to finance, while Country Director Wairimu Munyinyi\u2011Wahome reflected on Kenya\u2019s leadership in scaling locally rooted approaches and linking national momentum to Heifer\u2019s broader continental strategy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Strathmore students Joy Muntet and Morris Murigi presented M&S Smart Irrigation Solutions and IMARIKA WeatherWise respectively, walking the room through prototypes, use cases and the pathways they are pursuing to move from campus labs to farmer adoption. Their pitches illustrated the program\u2019s practical purpose: to create visible, testable pathways from student prototypes into incubation, mentorship and financing mechanisms where Heifer and SAFIC can play catalytic roles.<\/p>\n

    Surita Sandosham, President and CEO of Heifer International, delivered the keynote and issued a clear challenge and invitation. She framed the opportunity that, Africa holds 65 percent of the world\u2019s remaining arable land and hosts the youngest population globally, yet the continent imports more than $43 billion in food yearly, and she told students, \u201cThe solutions to Africa\u2019s food challenges will not be imported; they will be invented by you.\u201d Her remarks emphasized networks of trust among farmers, entrepreneurs and institutions, and the critical role of partnerships and finance in scaling youth\u2011led innovations.<\/p>\n

    The interactive Q&A, moderated by Dr. Geoffrey Otieno, surfaced practical collaboration questions: How can youth innovation drive livestock transformation? What concrete pathways can route student prototypes into AYuTe and related incubation platforms? How might SAFIC\u2019s analytics be combined with Heifer\u2019s field delivery to test finance mechanisms and market linkages? Participants agreed on a shortlist of im) ande follow\u2011ups: formalise a strategic partnership framework between Heifer and SAFIC, design joint pilot use cases that combine analytics with field implementation, build student engagement pipelines (internships, data challenges, mentorships and seed support), and systematise cross\u2011country learning to replicate successful Kenya\u2011Strathmore models regionally.<\/p>\n

    The event paired SAFIC\u2019s research and data capability with Heifer\u2019s operational reach and youth platforms, producing a clear set of next steps designed to convert student prototypes and data insights into financed, field\u2011ready solutions.<\/p>\n

    Article by Juliet Hinga<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":47490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[353],"class_list":["post-47489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-safic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nShaping the Future of African Agriculture - Strathmore University Business School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Strathmore Agri-Food Innovation Center and Heifer International hosted a public lecture highlighting youth-led innovation, partnerships, and access to finance in African agriculture. 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