There has never been a better time to invest in land restoration. Restoring degraded land has the potential to become big business. Entrepreneurs are finding new ways to make money from sustainably managed forests and farms. Some are responding to governmental incentives. Others are responding directly to the market, restoring land to generate new products and services, or to differentiate their offerings from the competition. Such enterprises are profiting by breathing new life into unproductive land.

To help with these efforts The World Resources Institute and Fledge partnered to create The Land Accelerator, a 4-day intense program to train and mentor entrepreneurs from select African countries, including both business planning and technical lectures, and ending with a Demo Day where participants will have a chance to pitch to prospective investors.

December 3-6, 2018
Nairobi, Kenya

Working with entrepreneurs who are working to improve the ecological function of a degraded landscape including work on reforestation, sustainable forestry, climate-smart agriculture, and non-timber forest projects.  The Accelerator contributes to African countries’ efforts to bring 100 million hectares of land into restoration through AFR100 and the Bonn Challenge.

2018 Attendees

Akili provides the mentoring, tools, funding and assistance to farmers in rural Kenya, with a goal of serving 800,000 farmers in the next three years.

Aoulaye Sesame specializes in the production and marketing of white sesame in Niger, growing on 100 hectares that were restored and working on the next 150 hectares of reclamation.

Asili Natural Oils produces natural cosmetic ingredients for customers around the world, using plants grown by over 2,000 Rwandan smallholder farmers.

Chabana Farms produces animal feed in Botswana, a country that exports beef but which today imports nearly all its animal feed.

Eden Field Agri-Seed Enterprise supplies seeds for edible grasses and legumes, shrubs, and trees, specific to each bio region in Ethiopia.

Green Pot Enterprises is Kenya’s first fully integrated bamboo company, with operations ranging from large-scale nurseries to establishment of a distributed network of bamboo plantations.

Kete-Krachi Farms grows and processes cashew nuts from 78,000 on their 500 hectares, plus another 1 million trees from other farmers in Ghana.

Lentera manufactures a range of organic and mineral fertilizers in Kenya that increase yield, enhance drought tolerance and facilitate restoration of depleted soils and farm lands.

Moringa Miracles produces moringa leaf powder, seed and seed oil in Malawi for sale on the international wholesale market.

Norelga Macadamia Rwanda brought the macadamia nut as a crop to Rwanda in 2010, serving both the domestic market as well as exporting into the global market.

SA Bamboo Works manufactures sustainable bamboo management in Ethiopia since 2012, producing flooring and ceiling tiles, laminated furniture, and other bamboo stick based products.

Safi Organics uses technology to decentralize and downsize fertilizer production, making it possible for rural Kenyan villages to use their own locally available resources, labor, and waste.

Partners & Sponsors