Bill Gates Foundation works in Africa: what goes through your mind when you hear those words? We all probably quickly have our thoughts ready, but hold on a second. Just as we often talk about farmers without asking them, we often talk about the African continent without asking people actually living there. So, we never fully grasp how big, how interesting, how full of potential, and how fundamental it is in a regenerative future.
In this new series on The African Regenerative Frontrunners, we try to do that differently. We will be talking to amazing regenerative entrepreneurs on the continent, but we obviously are not the best suited to do that and thus won’t be doing this alone. We are collaborating and co-hosting this series with Omoke Brian, aka The Organic Guy, who has been deep in organic agroecology for the last 10 years, based in Kenya, an entrepreneur himself and a podcast host. We will be co-hosting a number of conversations. We will both interview different guests and build upon each other’s episodes, and we kick it off with a double interview where I join Omoke’s show and he joins ours. Will we get it perfect? No. Will we have a lot of fun doing it? Yes.
Why the African continent? Most young people this century will be born there. Most land is farmed by smallholders who barely make ends meet. And it is hit hard- really hard- by climate change while having contributed nearly nothing to it. So, all of us better get to work.
What are the big myths, the big pitfalls, when foreigners- especially investors and entrepreneurs- come to this continent and try to “help the poor farmers”? Yes, we will be talking about Gates, GMOs, decolonisation and all the good stuff, and of course get into what Brian sees as big opportunities and what he would do if he were investing 1B, and of course the magic wand question.
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More about Brian:
Omoke Brian, also known as “The Organic Guy,” is an organic farmer and leading voice in organic and regenerative agriculture in Africa. He is the founder of Think Organic and Organic Adventures, and has spent nearly a decade working with small-scale farmers across East Africa.
Brian holds a Master’s in Organic Agriculture from Wageningen University, hosts The Organic Guy Podcast, Africa’s top agricultural podcast, and is the author of the upcoming book, The $100K Organic Farm: How to Build a Six-Figure Farm Using the Proven Organic Quadrant Blueprint.
This episode is part of The African Regenerative Frontrunners series is supported by Rootical and co-hosted by The Organic Guy.
WHY HE WENT INTO FARMING
Brian grew up in a rural, agricultural part of Kenya, where helping on the farm was part of daily life but not seen as a professional career path. He studied agriculture by circumstance, which led him to rediscover the familiar practices of his childhood through an organic farming course.
“I did my bachelor’s in agriculture, coincidentally, mainly because I didn’t get the qualifications that you need to pursue these other careers to become a lawyer and a doctor. And I looked around at the options I had, and agriculture was the closest thing that sounded familiar to me” — Omoke Brian
HOW HE STARTED HIS ONLINE E-COMMERCE BUSINESS
Brian’s journey into the organic sector began with a blog he started to write about organic farming practices. The interest and questions from readers about sourcing organic products led directly to the evolution of that blog into an e-commerce platform.
“And then in 2016 I started a blog called Think Organic. And so just basically writing about organic farming, what it is and what practices they do. And, I got a little bit of traction. So, I got a lot of people asking about, hey, how do we get into organic? Or what does it involve? How do we get organic products? And, that blog meta morph sized into an e-commerce platform.” — Omoke Brian
HOW IS ORGANIC DOING IN KENYA?
In Kenya, the agricultural landscape is mixed. Brian observes that while modern, input- intensive practices are promoted by some companies, the majority of small-scale farmers continue traditional methods, often because they lack the resources to change. A small minority are adopting certified organic practices.
We dig into why organic can outperform financially when differentiation, certification, and export compliance meet rising consumer demand, and we get real about timelines: soil needs four to five years to fully come back to life.
“But by large extent, most of the farmers are still practicing traditional farming practices and mostly because they don’t have the resources to do otherwise on what’s available to them.” — Omoke Brian
WHY SO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE ARE MOVING INTO ORGANIC FARMING IN KENYA
We also unpack language and policy. In Kenya, agroecology resonates because it blends farming with social realities like food sovereignty and community health. County policies are emerging, but fertilizer subsidies and multinational input pipelines still set a strong current. So what works? Brian’s blueprint is ecosystemic: village-based regenerative learning labs to prove practices locally, cooperatives to aggregate volume and negotiate access, and value-add processing to capture margin. He calls on investors to think like stewards- funding proof, logistics, and long-term soil gains instead of chasing quick wins.
High unemployment rates across Africa are driving young people to seek livelihoods, and agriculture is seen as a sector that can absorb this workforce. There is significant interest in agricultural information as youths look for ways to generate income.
“And a lot of the youths are looking for ways to make themselves busy and make a living for themselves and agriculture stand out to be this sector that can absorb a lot more of these unemployed youth.” — Omoke Brian
WHAT HAS HE LEARNED BY BUILDING HIS PODCAST?
Through building his podcast, Brian has identified a strong demand for practical knowledge. He sees his platform as fulfilling a need for information that helps people start their own agricultural ventures, whether for income or to utilize idle land.
“People are looking for information, how we can use that information and start our own adventures to make money and make, or use our sort of idle land into use.” — Omoke Brian
WHY AGROECOLOGY IS USED A LOT IN THE REGION
The term and concept of agroecology resonate strongly in the region because it incorporates crucial socio-economic elements like food sovereignty and social justice. This holistic approach aligns with local ways of living and is actively promoted by many NGOs.
“The reason why a lot of NGOs are into that, because agroecology involved this socio aspects, where, you’ll hear a lot of them use things like, social justice or food sovereignty, which sort of resonates more with the local population”. — Omoke Brian
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and Brian also talked about:
- Supply chain and resilience
- What are big leverage points Brian sees in a regenerative transition
- Measurement and subsidy challenges
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Joachim Ewechu and Hannes Van den Eeckhout – Why Uganda is the best place for a locally owned regenerative agriculture revolution
- Edie Mukiibi – From a small farm in Uganda, disillusioned by hybrid seeds and agrochemicals, to leading a global movement for good, clean and fair food
- Thekla Teunis and Gijs Boers – Regenerative practices deliver higher quality and higher prices in year one
- Sven Verwiel – How to unlock the potential of syntropic agroforestry in East Africa
- Clément Chenost – Lessons learned on investing 80M into vertically integrated agroforestry companies in LATAM and Subsaharan Africa
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.