Greenrev Gr is an agribusiness enterprise reducing horticultural harvest losses and adding micro-nutrient, to improve livelihoods through high profits and diversified nutrient-rich diets. The enterprise is committed to the fight against malnutrition and is interested in the seeding of vegetables and cereals to their processing level.

Since then, there have been significant achievements on his entrepreneurial journey and in improving and modernizing the agricultural sector. In 2020, he was featured in the UN SDSN report 2020 for his work with World Food Program (WFP-Rwanda). In addition, he is a part of Sight and Life Rwanda with the mission to establish SBN-RWANDA chapter.

For Joseph, when it comes to being healthy, prevention is better than cure. In Africa, fortification is not new, but Greenrev gr’s delivery model is a groundbreaking approach. They are revolutionising the food system without having to change it. For example, the thousands of small farmers and food processing already existed. The market and demand for fruits and vegetables have always existed. What the enterprise does is improve an existing product already widely consumed by hundreds of millions of Africans.

Their solution requires minimal behaviour change, which is key to its success and enables it to scale efficiently. So far, they have impacted more than 8.5+ million including customers, smallholder farmers and cooperatives, and project to reach over 100 million people by 2025. This would require a new and technological milling plant and advanced laboratory equipment to ensure quality, nutrition and safety.

As Greenrev gr’s continues to impact lives, they hope to adopt the new normal, especially in Horticulture and fighting against Malnutrition through institutional partnerships and market investments.

The post Greenrev’s Approach to Fighting Malnourishment in Rwanda appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Rwanda often experienced a surplus of sweet potatoes. Everyone was growing sweet potatoes in the rural areas and eating them boiled – the same way they had been preparing them for decades. Yet, while the population in Rwanda’s urban areas increased as people moved into the cities, they could not get themselves to enjoy sweet potatoes because they had been conditioned to the traditional way it was prepared.

Once, while discussing business opportunities with colleagues, Regis shared his idea of adding value to sweet potatoes and they all decided to start a company, CARL Group – a recipient of the 2016 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur Programme fund. Today, they are making bread and biscuits from sweet potato.

They produce orange-fleshed sweet potatoes that have a high vitamin content, particularly vitamin A. The main product of the CARL Group company is “VitA Bread”, a certified Made in Rwanda product and one of two kinds of bread to receive Standard Certification from the Rwandan Standard Board. VITA bread is made from OFSP which is a biofortified sweet potato rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A.

CARL Group sources the raw materials for the bread from around 1000 individuals, cooperatives and groups of farmers in Rwanda. The end products are processed daily by a highly qualified team of twelve young visionaries and finished products are then sold in 35 supermarkets and online grocery stores across several neighbourhoods in Kigali, primarily to low and middle-income urban consumers.

The social impact of CARL Group is felt widely across Rwanda because sweet potato is widely cultivated throughout the region; the number of farmers they work with grows as the demand for their products increases. They currently work with five online e-commerce platforms in Kigali.

Through diligence and an environmentally-conscious mentality, they continue to minimise wastage of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and improve OFSP value-chains to increase production and utilization in Rwanda as well as reducing malnutrition among children and pregnant women.

To be the most trustable, admired, efficient, successful and innovative company in Rwanda and internationally, Regis knows that he must keep growing and keep believing in his ideas.

The post Regis Umugiraneza’s Innovative Idea is Maximizing the Use of Sweet Potatoes in Rwanda appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.