The ADM encourages sustainable economic growth and employment by supporting U.S.-based African Diaspora entrepreneurs with innovating and high-impact ideas for start-up and established businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The new Marketplace will incorporate key learning from the first African Diaspora Marketplace, by focusing grants toward priority, high-impact sectors in Africa, including agribusiness, renewable energy, and information and communication technology (ICT).
Backgound:
The African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM) is a business plan competition designed to support the entrepreneurial spirit and resources of the U.S.-based African diaspora community to promote economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa by facilitating diaspora direct investment (DDI) in viable small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In 2010 the African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM) has awarded $1.4 million in matching grants to 14 businesses who are working in partnership with African-based ventures to promote job-growth in their native countries.The grant winners were chosen at an ADM conference in January 2010 after beating out 733 applicants and 58 finalists.
Related to agriculture/agribusiness:
Country | Business Name | Project Title |
| Ghana | Aceritas Ghana, Ltd. | Green Acres Goat Farm Beginning with 100 goats, this commercial goat farm will use improved breed stock imported from South Africa and modern husbandry methods to produce the animals for meat and breeding. With a small laboratory and education center, the ranch also will work as a platform for sharing knowledge with local farmers to help them upgrade breeding and farming methods and grow. |
| Ethiopia | TAF, PLC | TAF BioTechnology TAF BioTechnology (Ethiopia) is a commercial-scale plant tissue culture business focusing on the cultivation and multiplication of cells, tissues and organs of plants with the objective of increasing the yield and quality of produce for Ethiopian agriculture producers. The company will produce plant clones (true copies of plants) in large numbers through streamlined operation of a tissue culture facility. |
| Nigeria | AACE Foods | Processing and Preserving West Africa's Best Fruits and Vegetables AACE Food Processing & Distribution Ltd. processes, packages and distributes nutritious and tasty food made from the best of West Africa’s fruits and vegetables. It product line consists of spices, spreads, sauces and complementary food that excite and satisfy individuals and families. |
| Uganda | Tek Consults, Ltd. | Cooking Solar Ovens Manufacturing Building a solar oven factory in Uganda. The factory will be located in the industrial park section of Kampala. It will be only the second solar oven factory on the continent, and the very first solar oven factory in sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Sierra Leone | Palm Fruit Processing | Production of Crude Palm Oil Using a Palm Processing Mill Palm Fruit Processing (Sierra Leone) will establish a Palm Oil Processing Mill in Sierra Leone to produce Crude Palm Oil (CPO). CPO is a staple in Sierra Leone and there is a substantial demand for the product. Production of CPO in Sierra Leone is done primarily using traditional methods that are very labor intensive and also inefficient. This inefficiency, coupled with export of CPO, creates an atmosphere wherein CPO trades locally at a substantial premium to world market price |
Uganda | EarthWise Ferries | EarthWise Ferries (Uganda) will reestablish, manage, and operate a fast-ferry transportation system on Lake Victoria, with destinations in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Earthwise has enlisted 600 indigenous farmers to grow sunflower seeds to produce the vegetable oil which will power the ferries. |
Kenya | Uza-Mazao | Uza-Mazao (Kenya) (TM) is creating a marketplace via SMS messaging to bring unprecedented levels of efficiency to buyers or sellers of crops, farm produce, livestock or livestock products. It gives sellers the ability to find willing buyers and vice-versa. It aggregates buyers and sellers and applies a powerful algorithm to find the best match. |
