On Episode 3 I talk to Martin Ssali, an agribusiness entrepreneur from Uganda. I quickly realized that this man is doing some amazing things, particularly with soy, in Uganda. Martin is clearly a person with vision. He is building his company, Smart Foods, to fill a gap that exists not only in Uganda, but in Africa. I would say his products can have international demand once he reaches scale.
Martin takes the Bandits through ups and downs with great detail. As he spoke, I had to remind myself that this is not what I am going through now. We hear about the difficulty Martin faces introducing new food products into a skeptical market. In fact, some of the most exciting parts are listening to him talk through the conception of products.
In many parts of Africa, agribusiness is the fastest growing industry that provides some impressive growth rates. Many governments are providing fiscal incentives for people to participate in the expansion of the industry. You have to realize that agriculture employs about 65% of Africa's workforce. So, while starting a business in agriculture might not be the trendiest thing right now, it utilizes the existing workforce on the Continent like few industries are able to.
As a YALI fellow, Martin was able to see some of the practices in the United States and take different ideas and new connections back to Uganda. If you are living in diaspora and thinking of going back to the Continent, particularly Uganda, Martin has given some actionable advice on taking that next step and even talks about what industries are ripe for innovation (banana pun intended).
Feel free to leave a comment below on what you thought about the episode.