AFC To Support 5,000 Women-led AgriSMEs

By Abubakar Yunusa

African Food Changemakers has unveiled plans to support 5,000 women and youth-led agribusinesses across Africa as part of efforts to strengthen the continent’s food systems and boost intra-African trade.

The organisation disclosed this while announcing its repositioning as a continent-wide agribusiness accelerator focused on building investment-ready and high-growth agrifood enterprises across Africa.

Speaking on the development, the Board Chair of African Food Changemakers, Ony Mgbeahurike, said Africa’s challenge was not a lack of agricultural potential but the absence of scalable agribusiness platforms.

According to him, the organisation’s new direction is aimed at empowering agripreneurs to build globally competitive businesses capable of transforming Africa’s food ecosystem.

He said, “Africa does not lack agricultural potential — it lacks scalable agribusiness platforms. Through AFC’s evolution into an agribusiness accelerator, we are empowering agripreneurs to build globally competitive businesses that demonstrate Africa’s food future.”

The group noted that the initiative would provide stronger access to markets, finance, trade opportunities and business visibility for agrifood entrepreneurs across the continent.

African Food Changemakers explained that its flagship programmes, including the Building Resilience Against Climate and Environmental Shocks, Leading African Women in Food Fellowship and Scaling Export Programme, had already recorded measurable impacts across Africa.

According to the organisation, over 3,500 agribusinesses have benefited from climate resilience support under the BRACE programme, leading to the creation of more than 5,000 direct jobs and 8,000 indirect jobs.

It added that 84 African women had so far received fellowships under the Leading African Women in Food Fellowship initiative aimed at strengthening leadership capacity and amplifying women’s participation in food systems.

The organisation further disclosed that 279 agribusinesses had been prepared for export readiness through technical support, compliance training and market intelligence under the Scaling Export Programme.

AFC said its 2030 vision targets the creation of 20,000 new jobs, increased business output by 60 per cent and the emergence of globally recognised African food champions.

Also speaking, AFC Board Member, Temitope Adegoroye, said the organisation was committed to building agrifood enterprises that would create jobs, drive trade and improve food security across the continent.

“Our vision is to see African agrifood businesses not just survive, but scale, creating jobs, driving trade, and feeding the continent,” Adegoroye said.

The organisation called on governments, development partners, corporations and investors to collaborate in expanding the accelerator model to unlock opportunities within Africa’s agrifood sector.