H2O is building profitable, high-growth, high-impact agricultural ventures in East Africa. We work across the region, and have established a Kigali-based team of entrepreneurial business development managers who are working on a variety of projects that benefit from strong engagement with international agricultural research partners, and linkages back to UK Research Councils and UK businesses.
There is substantial unmet need for the development of ambitious social enterprises in the East Africa agricultural sector: institutions, NGOs and individual local entrepreneurs lack the skills and experience to build large-scale investible businesses; on the other side, venture capital in the region lacks quality investment deal flow.
H2O creates enterprises that drive adoption of socially and commercially valuable research outputs – including those from UK institutions and internationally from the CGIAR – to help the bottom of the pyramid increase the productivity and market value of their smallholder and household enterprises.
By building profitable enterprises around pro-poor research outputs, we deliver highly cost-effective, long-term social impact, and provide an exit from project funding for donors.