Women-Led Agribusinesses Take Centre Stage as Africa Seeks Food-System Investment

By Mintesinot Nigussie  |  September 5, 2026

Women-led agribusinesses are drawing renewed attention from investors and policymakers as Africa seeks to channel more capital into food-system transformation, with the WAYA 2026 Awards showcasing businesses already creating jobs, linking farmers to markets and developing climate-smart solutions.

The awards, held during the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda, brought together 17 finalists from more than 35 African countries. The finalists represented businesses operating across the agrifood value chain, from food processing and agricultural inputs to climate-smart production and technology-enabled marketplaces.

The event put the emphasis not only on recognising women entrepreneurs but on the capital, partnerships and market access needed to help their businesses expand.

Binta Touré Ndoye, an AGRA board member speaking on behalf of AGRA President Alice Ruhweza, challenged stakeholders to move beyond celebrating women entrepreneurs and increase investment in their businesses.

“Let’s stop talking about women in Africa. Let’s start investing in them,” she said.

Ana Maria Loboguerrero of the Gates Foundation similarly urged investors attending the forum to back women-led enterprises, arguing that the businesses showcased through WAYA had demonstrated sufficient potential to attract investment, partnerships and opportunities for scale.

The five award winners illustrated the range of commercial models emerging from Africa’s agrifood sector.

Perseverance Muzeya, founder of Zimbabwe-based Alzanel Ltd, received the Outstanding Value-Adding Enterprise Award. Her solar-powered agribusiness processes surplus agricultural produce into preservative-free food products while working with more than 15,000 smallholder farmers, most of them women.

Ifeoma Mary Okonkwo, co-founder and group managing director of Nigeria-based IFGREEN Industries, won the Women Empowerment Champion Award for a climate-smart cassava business that employs 77 people directly and more than 200 indirectly while working with about 2,060 smallholder farmers.

Sakalé Traoré, founder and chief executive of Mali-based Mamali Moringa, was named Young Female Agripreneur – Rising Star. The company processes locally produced moringa into value-added products, works with more than 1,000 women producers and reaches about 250 young people through farm-school programmes.

Rwanda’s Marina Kamanzi, founder and managing director of Kagezi Seed Company, received the Resilient & Inspirational Leader Award. Her seed business promotes drought-tolerant crops and supports more than 4,500 smallholder farmers across Zambia, with women and young people accounting for a significant share of its participation.

Cherotich Rutto, founder and chief executive of Kenya-based Tawi Fresh Kenya, won the Female Ag-Tech Innovator Award. Her technology-enabled marketplace connects smallholder farmers with institutional buyers and has enrolled more than 2,000 farmers, 65 percent of them women and 29 percent young people. The platform has facilitated more than US$4.5 million in agricultural trade.

The businesses point to several areas where investment could have an immediate commercial and development impact, including food processing, agricultural technology, climate resilience, market access and agricultural inputs.

Dr Florence Uwamahoro, director general of the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, said creating opportunities for women and young people was critical to making agriculture a viable career and business sector rather than a last resort.

Maurizio Martina, deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, congratulated AGRA and VALUE4HER for creating a platform for women in agrifood businesses and called for support to reach entrepreneurs and producers beyond high-level forums.

The investment question comes as African countries seek to increase agricultural productivity, reduce food losses, create employment for a growing young population and build resilience to climate and economic shocks.

The WAYA finalists demonstrate that women-led enterprises are already operating across those pressure points. The challenge now is moving successful businesses from recognition and small-scale operations towards larger markets, stronger financing and regional expansion.

The Kigali awards therefore placed a broader question before investors and policymakers: whether Africa can turn recognition of women’s contribution to food systems into sustained capital flows capable of scaling the businesses already emerging across the continent.

Source: FSX Business News