The second issue of our ‘Stories from our CoP’ series – a regular series in which we give space to the inspiring voices of our Community of Practice members – is with Roald Klumpenaar.
- Roald, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and what you do at Bopinc and, more specifically, with the O-Farms project. What is O-Farms’ vision and approach to driving change? Does agroecology play a role in Bopinc/O-Farms’ approach? If so, how?
I’m Roald Klumpenaar, Impact Manager at Bopinc, and I specialize in inclusive innovation in agrifood systems, which covers digitalization of agri-value chains as well as circular economy.
O-Farms is Africa’s first accelerator of the next generation of innovative circular agribusinesses. Funded by the IKEA Foundation and implemented by Bopinc and Village Capital, it supports 40 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya and Uganda, helping them grow and develop. We also find it important to capture and elaborate on lessons learned, and share them within the broader agribusiness ecosystem in both countries and beyond, to facilitate change. For us, a circular agribusiness is either a for-profit company or a registered – and preferably locally-founded – farmer group, working on innovative solutions for bringing food loss, or the by-products created in food production or processing, back into the food system. This is one of the key principles of agroecology, and that’s why I think it fits in very well. You can check out our O-Farms learning publications where we provide more details about our vision here: https://mailchi.mp/bopinc/dbie33yi3p.
- This is really interesting! CIFOR-ICRAF just recently launched a project on innovative value chains in Zambia (a DeSIRA project funded by the EU and called Z4ABC) – would you be interested in connecting with the team?
Yes, absolutely – we’d be very happy to connect with the team and learn more about the work in Zambia. Currently, O-Farms’ focus is on Kenya and Uganda, but we treasure knowledge sharing!
- How did you come up with the Circular Idea Blender?
Once we’ve realized that there are quite a few agri-entrepreneurs out there with creative solutions for reducing and reusing food waste, we felt that the best way to inspire businesses or start-ups to get on the same track was by showcasing practical examples of those who have already gone circular. This is how the Circular Idea Blender came to life.
The Circular Idea Blender makes it easy to search for existing business innovation examples and products. For instance, you can use the tool to look for examples of circular products that can be made with different kinds of food waste. Currently, it includes 55 examples of companies making new products out of food waste or production by-products. So put your ideas and ambitions in the blender, rumble, and get inspired!
- Is this tool going to grow in the future?
We’re always on the lookout for new creative ideas and circular agribusiness examples. Do you know a circular agribusiness that should be featured in the Circular Idea Blender? Please let our team know at o-farms@bopinc.org.
- The Agroecology TPP works on addressing knowledge and implementation gaps that hinder the food systems’ transformation towards sustainability. In your experience, what are some of the most common knowledge and implementation gaps that prevent this much needed change?
I find the work of Agroecology TPP important because it solves the problem of poor communication and exchange between practitioners, researchers, and donors. At O-Farms, for instance, we see a lack of connection between (impact) investors and agri-entrepreneurs.
- Indeed, this is one of the biggest bottlenecks. Projects like yours can bridge this gap, but what else can be done? And how do you ensure sustainability of your actions, so that these agri-entrepreneurs are capable of taking it to the next level and blossom?
Bridging this existing gap between investors and circular agri-entrepreneurs is of high priority for us. We tried to tackle this by organizing a couple of investor matchmaking workshops in Kenya and Uganda, where both investors and entrepreneurs were invited. We also held a number of thematic events for researchers, policy makers, and other key stakeholders.
When it comes to sustainability, we take a couple of actions. First of all, our programs have a strong focus on mentorship by industry experts. What we are doing is creating valuable connections between entrepreneurs and investors which often last for a much longer period of time than our own programs do. Peer-to-peer learning is also key to our work. For example, entrepreneurs coach one another and oftentimes keep in touch as a group even after the program ends. For instance, our first O-Farms cohort in Kenya still has an active Whatsapp group. Six months after the program has ended, we also organized an event to discuss some of the key learnings and celebrate the successes of the circular entrepreneurs.
What’s also interesting to highlight is that several entrepreneurs had mentioned that they acquired new customers through connections from their fellow entrepreneurs. This means there is a strong spirit of collaboration rather than competition, and that our cohort of circular agri-entrepreneurs would really like to grow the circular agribusiness sector as a whole in the coming years.
- Our first edition of the Voices from our CoP was with Ibrahim Bahnasy, a young Egyptian agroecological entrepreneur. What do you think of his activities? How does O-Farms select SMEs for support? Would someone like Ibrahim be eligible?
We feel inspired by Orgoooo and Ibrahim’s entrepreneurial story. Circular packaging, made out of organic waste, is one of the most innovative areas within the O-Farms program. We encourage Ibrahim to bring his products to market and we’re curious whether some food manufacturers in Egypt would be interested in starting to use this sort of packaging. We’ve had a couple of circular packaging entrepreneurs in our cohorts as well, such as Kenyan FiberText who produces biodegradable packaging from banana trunks, which otherwise would go to waste. Another inspiring example that we’ve seen is Kenya-based Calibre Foods, whose biodegradable laminated cellulose pack won the award for the most innovative packaging, used by Aunt Betty’s Ready Meal Rice. Unfortunately, we currently do not work with Egypt-based entrepreneurs, but if we were to expand, we’d be happy to invite Ibrahim to apply to participate in the O-Farms program.
- The scope of the Agroecology TPP’s Community of Practice (CoP) is to create a digital space where like-minded people can exchange ideas, share resources, develop solutions, but most importantly co-create knowledge in innovative ways. What would you want to see implemented in a space like the AE-TPP’s CoP, so that it brings value to you and O-Farms?
We’re especially interested in events organized on the topic of circular economy. More generally though, we are very happy to be able to meet, network and exchange ideas with like-minded organizations through any online events, really – including breakout sessions where we can meet people in a smaller, more intimate, setting.
- CIFOR-ICRAF has a lot of ongoing activities on circular bio-economy. Perhaps we could set-up a workshop together if you deem this of interest!
We would be happy to! The workshop idea sounds like a great way to talk through and develop new ideas and activities in the circular economy space!
- What are O-Farms’ goals for this 2023?
Over the last two years, O-Farms has trained over 40 circular agribusinesses in Uganda and Kenya. The second cohort of companies is currently undergoing final training and receiving technical assistance.
One activity that we’re working on this year is the O-Farms Toolkit. We are now putting all training material into it, which will further help agribusinesses go circular. For instance, one of the features of the tool is about reducing and/or reusing energy and water usage. Another feature aims to help lower packaging waste. The launch of the O-Farms Toolkit is set for June 2023. We’ll be giving a series of online workshops to help train as many agri-entrepreneurs and enterprise support organizations as we can.
- Well done, this is an important milestone! Please keep us informed on the launch. The Agroecology TPP would be happy to support and be involved, if you think there is value in collaborating on this, or any related/follow-up activities.
This sounds great – we’ll keep you in the loop! We’re glad to stay in touch!
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Connect with Bopinc / O-Farms:
https://bopinc.org/projects/0-farms-ikea/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bopinc/
https://www.facebook.com/Bopinc/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjs_cGqNHQbx3RWBJiM77tA
Download the full interview as a PDF here.
Four steps to follow to join our CoP:
- Create an account with GLFx
- Confirm your email address in the registration process
- Once inside the GLFx platform, navigate to ‘Groups’ and choose ‘The Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology’
- Select ‘Join’ and complete the sign-up form – now you’re set and can browse resources, start a discussion, and much more!