Africa

In his first overseas trip as World Bank Group president, Jim Yong Kim visited Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa last week.

CEO of Yalelo Ltd and former volunteer consultant Bryan McCoy shares with us about his time in Swaziland and Tanzania.

An estimated 25% of world food crops, including maize, peanuts and cassava, are affected by aflatoxin contamination. These crops constitute the staple foods for the majority of African countries.

For farmers like Samuel Baale, chairman of Bulongo Farmer Business Group in eastern Uganda, cotton is vital to life. The area’s main cash crop, cotton helps pay for homes, provide food and send children to school. And the market for Samuel’s cotton comes from one major buyer: Mutuma Commercial Agencies…

Former volunteer consultant Sara Andrews chats with us about her time in Zimbabwe and the company it inspired, Bumbleroot.

Even in the poorest of countries, business opportunities exist. People have demand for goods and services, and they have the potential to supply them. All too often, though, markets in these countries fail.

In the winter of 2012, I joined TechnoServe directly from a management consulting position in San Francisco. Four months and more than 100 stakeholder interviews later, what was once a side note on a scope of work now has great impact on how TechnoServe looks at dairy interventions.

Jean-Pierre attends a STRYDE session with his classmates in Rwanda’s Ruhango district. Across East Africa, TechnoServe and The MasterCard Foundation are working to help young people like Jean-Pierre transition to economic independence in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.

Believe it or not, it has been more than two months since I arrived in Maputo.

TechnoServe, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, has helped farmers in Tanzania to improve their production, form business groups and sell their produce in bulk.