Tag: agroecology

Ivan Mandela – Unicorns can wait, African farmers can’t

10th March 2026 antonellatotaro African Regenerative Frontrunners, Regenerative Agriculture, Transition finance 1 Comment

It’s a very interesting time for African agriculture and food, the continent is realising it’s potential to help feed the world, money is flowing into infrastructure to unlock this, more and more talent is coming into the space and the realisation that agro ecology or regenerative agriculture is no longer a nice niche with big margins but has the potential to become the predominant way of agriculture is performed. 

After putting over $ 20 million to work in East Africa, Ivan Mandela, founder of SHONA Group, has learned the hard way: chasing Western style so called unicorns might not be the right approach for a predominantly agricultural society. So he shifted his approach and started investing in real companies, to help create a functioning main street a functional real economy where unicorns will naturally start to occur. We discuss why Ivan ends up mostly backing female entrepreneurs, his tips for young students and his takes on nutrient density and quality.

Ivan Mandela is co-founder of Shona capital, which provides East Africa’s SMEs with flexible debt to help them grow and achieve their full potential, and co-founder of Rootical, a start-up studio enabling purpose-driven entrepreneurs in Uganda to build and own their regenerative agri- food companies.

Million Belay – Why the USAID shutdown was a gift to agroecology in Africa

3rd February 2026 antonellatotaro African Regenerative Frontrunners, Regenerative Agriculture 6 Comments

The difference between agroecology and regenerative agriculture is the deep social change we need in the food and agriculture system. As Laura Ortiz Montemayor told us once “ecology without social justice is just gardening”. Million Belay, who leads the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, the largest social movement on the African continent, is very clear stop intervening with agriculture on the continent, stop imposing all kinds of rules, practices, seeds, inputs etc, which don’t serve in this context (and we could argue in the context we come from as well, how many European banned pesticides are exported to the continent?)

We talk about the shut down of the USAID which was actually a good shock to the system. And finally donors, which unfortunately dictate quite a bit the direction, are talking and slowly also acting around agroecology. We discuss how through lobbying they managed to get many countries to adopt agroecology policies in the last few years, what Million would do with a billion dollar and what his message for investors is.

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

24th October 2023 koenvanseijen Diet Change, Regenerative Agriculture, Short Food Webs 1 Comment

A conversation with Edie Mukiibi, farmer, agronomist, activist, and current president of Slow Food International, about modern input-heavy agrochemical agronomy education, the disillusionment with agrochemicals, hybrid seeds, and much more.

Dimitri Tsitos, Matteo Mazzola and Koen van Seijen on agroforestry, agroecology and the role of finance

18th May 2021 koenvanseijen Diet Change, Farmers First Tech, Nutrient Dense Food, Nutrients to Soil, Regenerative Agriculture, Role of Animals, Short Food Webs 2 Comments

This time Koen van Seijen is joined by Dimitri Tsitos of Mazi Farm and Matteo Mazzola of Iside Farm. Listen to their informal chat!

Judith D Schwartz on why our current economic framework is completely inadequate for regeneration at scale

9th February 2021 koenvanseijen Landscape Design 2.0, Ownership, Regenerative Agriculture, Role of Animals 5 Comments

The landscapes around us are a reflection of our consciousness and wealth is found in our functional ecosystems. The author Judith D. Schwartz joins us once again to discuss her new book, The Reindeer Chronicles, wherein she dives deep into regeneration at a large scale.