Boosting Economic Development in West Africa
TechnoServe President and CEO Will Warshauer recently traveled to Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. Read insights from his trip and learn how TechnoServe is working to boost small business development and food systems in West Africa.
Economic Development in West Africa
On a recent trip to Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, I saw incredible work to boost small business development and food systems—both essential for economic development in West Africa.
Creating Circular Economy Jobs with Plastics Recycling
In Nigeria, we are helping promote entrepreneurship while tackling the region’s plastic pollution challenge. Nigeria alone produces 2.5 million tons of plastic waste each year. But—in a classic case of the win-win solutions we look for at TechnoServe—this problem can be addressed by helping develop profitable recycling and collection businesses.
Analysis done by TechnoServe business experts showed a robust business case at all levels in this “waste value chain.” Most importantly, the collectors who pick up the used plastic bottles earn more than minimum wage doing so. And the aggregators and recyclers are also earning profits, ensuring the continuation and expansion of these efforts that TechnoServe is supporting.
In Lagos, I joined our superb staff from TechnoServe Nigeria to visit three recycling facilities, among the many we support as part of the Nigeria Plastic Solutions Activity. At the cleverly named “Golden Garbage” facility, I met with Chief Operating Officer Benaye Eko, who showed me how they collect and compress plastic waste. The company currently aggregates about 17 tons of plastic per month but is working with TechnoServe to increase its customer base and operations capacity. This should enable it to aggregate over 50 tons per month soon.
At another recycling collection firm, KIC Cleaners, I learned that TechnoServe’s support is expected to help them more than double their current aggregation capacity, to process 150 tons of plastic. Our last stop was a Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment (RESWAYE), a woman-owned business that employs other women to collect plastic waste from beaches and waterways.
Altogether, the Nigeria Plastic Solutions project—jointly funded by USAID and the Coca-Cola Foundation—aims to improve the capacity of 9,500 collectors, at least 24 aggregators, and 10 recyclers. This will help them recycle 49,000 metric tons of waste while developing 10,000 work opportunities, especially for women and youth. I left Lagos confident that this project would meet or beat all these numbers, creating jobs and economic opportunities while taking thousands of tons of plastic off the streets.
Business Solutions to Food Fortification
Nigeria also faces a malnutrition challenge, which hampers the potential of its people and economy. I was encouraged to visit food processing companies participating in a TechnoServe project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project helps companies across eight countries improve their food fortification practices—one of the best ways to combat malnutrition at scale.
The companies we visited—West African Soy Ltd. and Apples & Pears—were champions of our fortification initiatives and active participants in Millers for Nutrition, a coalition of companies that TechnoServe helped develop in order to improve private sector fortification. I was inspired to see the energy these companies were putting into better fortification, validating TechnoServe’s efforts to enable sustainability by helping food processors realize the business case for producing nutritious, fortified food.
Improving Food Systems to Grow Economies
In Côte d’Ivoire, I enjoyed meeting with our talented staff and some of our donors and partners. A particular highlight was seeing some of the progress made under our Prosper Cashew project. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this initiative aims to strengthen the cashew nut processing industry in West Africa. Cashews are an important export from Africa, which produces more than half the world’s raw cashew nuts but, until recently, was processing only about 10% of them, thereby missing out on a huge opportunity for value addition.
That is changing now—partly thanks to the great work of our Prosper Cashew staff. In south-central Côte d’Ivoire, we visited the world’s largest cashew processing plant, Dorado Ivory. I met with Managing Director Vigneshwar Rajkumar and other employees, who showed me around the impressive, 12-hectare facility and explained how TechnoServe has helped them improve their value chain, marketing, and access to finance.
Since launching in 2020, Prosper Cashew has helped to triple the share of raw cashews processed locally in Côte d’Ivoire and double the amount processed in Nigeria. The growth in local processing helps local cashew farmers, who know they have an offtaker who will buy their crop, enabling them to plan and invest more in their crops. The expansion of local processing also drives local job creation and helps drive other significant economic activity in areas like packaging and transport.
Core Focus Areas Boost Impact
One of the best parts of my job is seeing firsthand the life-changing impact that our staff is making possible around the world. I came away from this visit to West Africa with a renewed sense of excitement about our regenerative business, job creation, and food systems work.
These are TechnoServe’s main areas of focus precisely because they have the potential to transform the lives and countries of the people we serve. Our work in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire is doing just that.
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