O-Farms Accelerator Program

Closing The Food System Loop in Kenya

ABOUT US

O-Farms is an African SME accelerator completely focused on circular agribusiness with the goal of making circularity a mainstream approach for improved rural livelihoods and sustainability. It is an initiative funded by the IKEA Foundation to help scale circular agribusiness innovations in East Africa.

O-Farms, led by Bopinc and Village Capital, is focused on accelerating the next generation of innovative circular agribusinesses in Kenya and Uganda. Agri-circularity creates a more sustainable food system that drives innovation through developing innovative business models that reduce agricultural losses thereby creating new economic opportunities and jobs in the region. In this regard, Kenya is able to sustainably feed its growing population, without depleting the natural resources. In doing so, O-Farms will build innovation support infrastructure that enables circular agribusiness to grow and develop.

In Kenya, E4Impact Accelerator is implementing the O-Farm’s Accelerator Program targeted to Agri-circular SMEs, with the aim to support them to refine their innovations, strengthen their business models, access financing opportunities and create a founding community advocating for better adoption of a circular economy and supportive policies & legislation.

What is Circular Agribusiness?

A circular agribusiness uses either food losses (avoidable waste from Agri-processing, e.g. Rejected tomatoes, spoilt milk, rejected bananas) and/or By-products (unavoidable waste from Agri-processing e.g. Rice husks, Orange leftover peels, Cashew apples) to produce new agri-food products.

PROGRAM BENEFITS

For the second cohort, up to 10 enterprises will be selected to join the program. The enterprises can expect to receive the following benefits:

Customized training program on agri-circularity business
Technical Assistance to embed circularity principles in the business model including strengthening the systems and processes.
Coaching and Mentorship – personalized and group coaching to unpack training into business implementation
Links to financial and investment opportunities
Networking and peer learning to strengthen innovations and build a community of best practices in agri-circularity.
2 peer-selected SMEs will receive milestone based grant funding of upto Euro 25,000 to implement identified milestones.
Networking opportunities to showcase your solution and meet with investors and other stakeholders.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Have an innovative business that uses food losses (e.g. Rejected tomatoes) or by-products (e.g. Rice husks)
To make and sell new agrifood products, such as:
*Human food (e.g. turning rejected tomatoes into ketchup)
*Animal feed (e.g. using orange peels)
*Biodegradable packaging materials for the food industry (e.g. using Pineapple crowns)
*Compost/organic fertilizers (e.g. using rice husks)
*Bio-energy for agri-processing (e.g. using agri-processing waste).
Be a growth stage enterprise with an existing customer base (post revenue) that's buying your agri-circular products.
Be a Kenyan registered enterprise with at least one of the founder/co-owner being Kenyan

INNOVATION CRITERIA

Agri-circularity creates a more sustainable food system that drives innovation through developing innovative business models that reduce agricultural losses thereby creating new economic opportunities and jobs in the region. In this regard, Kenya is able to sustainably feed its growing population, without depleting the natural resources. In doing so, O-Farms will build innovation support infrastructure that enables circular agribusiness to grow and develop.

HOW TO APPLY

The call for applications is open till 30^th September 2022 Midnight EAT.

NB: Only online application will be reviewed and accepted.

Any queries? Please send an email to accelerator.kenya@e4impact.org

Key Timelines

FAQs

O-Farms Program

Who is running the O-Farms program?

The program is funded by Ikea Foundation and is partnered with Villcarp and Bopinc. It is implemented by E4Impact Accelerator in Nairobi- Kenya.

How long will the O-Farms program run?

It is a 6 month program with a 3 month mentorship bootcamp for all the 10 selected enterprises and a number of enterprises will be selected to receive technical assistance from Bopinc.

How many cohorts are there?

The first cohort of the program ran between October 2021 and March 2022. The second cohort will run between January – June 2023.

When the application form will be available?

The application form (for the second cohort) is now open from Friday, 1^st September 2022 and the deadline is on Friday, 21^st September 2022.

Apply here

Program Eligibility

Is the O-Farms program only open to Kenyan businesses?

Yes, only enterprises registered in Kenya and those that have at least one Kenyan co-founder is eligible to apply for this program.

What stage of businesses can apply?

Enterprises that have an established customer base and already generating revenue (post –revenue).

What kind of innovations do you expect the enterprises to be at?

O-Farms is looking for enterprises that are creating new Agri-products in the hierarchy below:

Human food (e.g. turning rejected tomatoes into ketchup)
Animal feed (e.g. using orange peels)
Biodegradable packaging for the food industry (e.g. using Pineapple crowns)
Compost/organic fertilizers (e.g. using rice husks)
Bio-energy for agri-processing (e.g. using agri-processing waste)

What program benefits do you receive in the program?

Successful enterprises will receive customized capacity building on Agri-circularity business principles and investment readiness, provide access to coaching & mentorship, linkages to markets and investments, and opportunity to win peer to peer awarded milestone grants for the 2 selected enterprises (total of €50,000).