Co-founder and CEO of Ghanaian startup Kodu Know-how, Dr. Iddi Mohammed Faried, is urging African leaders to extend funding in youth-led improvements as a technique to drive the expansion of Africa’s agribusiness sector.
Talking on the 2025 Africa Meals Methods Discussion board (AFSF) in Dakar, Senegal, he mentioned: “We want funding in youth-led options, with finance, mentorship, and alternatives for progress.
“We want sensible training that goes past idea to incorporate innovation labs, apprenticeships, and entrepreneurship pathways.”
“And we have to be included in coverage discussions, not as tokens, however as actual actors shaping the way forward for meals methods. If Africa is severe about meals safety and resilience, it have to be severe about its youth,” he added.
AFSF, an annual occasion organised by AGRA, is Africa’s premier platform for dialogue and motion on meals methods transformation.
Beneath the theme “Africa’s Youth Main Collaboration, Innovation, and Implementation of Agri-Meals Methods Transformation,” this yr’s discussion board will convey collectively heads of state, policymakers, researchers, agribusiness leaders, traders, and youth entrepreneurs to form the way forward for meals on the African continent.
Over 6,000 attendees from greater than 113 international locations will drive high-level discussions and commitments on agriculture between the thirty first of August and the fifth of September 2025.
Talking at an occasion that spotlighted youth’s position in Africa’s meals methods transformation, Dr. Faried famous that: “Reworking Africa’s meals methods will not be solely about rising extra crops.”
“It’s about rethinking sources, linking agriculture to human wants and inspiring younger folks to show challenges into alternatives,” he mentioned.
The agency Dr. Faried co-founded, Kodu Know-how, is a socially pushed startup that’s turning discarded banana and plantain waste into reasonably priced, eco-friendly sanitary pads to assist restore dignity to younger girls whereas boosting incomes for smallholder farmers.
Dr. Faried defined he and his staff have been impressed to begin the enterprise after they engaged some younger girls within the Northern Area who disclosed they generally missed college as a result of that they had no sources to buy sanitary pads.
He mentioned Kodu Know-how’s pad is absolutely licensed by the Ghana Requirements Authority and the Meals and Drug Authority.
Dr. Faried instructed the viewers that Africa’s revolutionary youth have a special view of what challenges are.
“Africa has the youngest inhabitants on the planet, with greater than 60 per cent underneath 25. We see issues in a different way. To us, waste will not be waste, it’s uncooked materials for innovation,” he mentioned.
“Throughout the continent, younger individuals are already creating apps to attach farmers to markets, processing crops into higher-value merchandise, advancing climate-smart farming and repurposing waste into merchandise,” he added.
“Allow us to cease asking if younger individuals are prepared. We’re already proving it daily. The query is, are we able to be supported, trusted, and given the area to remodel Africa’s meals methods?” Dr. Faried concluded.
Director of Agrifood Methods on the Mastercard Basis, Ms. Wambui Chege, who additionally spoke on the occasion, mentioned Africa’s future can be cast by the relentless actions of younger folks.
“Every year, 10 million younger folks step into the work drive… It’s a unprecedented alternative… Agriculture holds highly effective pathways to scalable entrepreneurship,” she mentioned.
“We now have heard what Dr. Iddi is doing and rewriting the story of Africa’s meals methods. They’re creating jobs and reshaping worth chains. They’re proving that younger individuals are not ready for change. They’re main it,” she added.
Senegal’s Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Mabouba Diagne, instructed the session that quite a few alternatives exist for Africa’s younger folks and urged them to grab such probabilities.
He emphasised that with the suitable mindset, abilities, and assist, youth can develop into the driving drive behind the continent’s agricultural progress.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Feedback, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform don’t essentially signify the views or coverage of Multimedia Group Restricted.
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