Beryl Oyier | Managing Director for East Africa at Bopinc

Beryl Oyier, Managing Director for East Africa at Bop Innovation Center (Bopinc), shared her experiences working on the YALTA and Bopinc business accelerator. 

When companies create products or services for low-income communities, these should be of appropriate quality and value. That’s where Bopinc works with companies --from multinationals to Small and Medium-sized enterprises, towards inclusive business models. Bopinc fosters entrepreneurship and empowerment among those communities by, for example, working with inclusive innovation approaches and tools, and generating marketing and distribution strategies. 

So they partnered with YALTA on a business accelerator through which young agroecological entrepreneurs could build capacity for their business models, creating innovative and viable businesses. ‘Young entrepreneurs are very interested, committed and active, although most companies are still very early stages, need a lot of support and are not necessarily ready for significant investment, they still need to grow’, says Beryl. 

These entrepreneurs don’t need large sums of money. Even small investments can have an outsized impact on these budding businesses. For example, one of the companies in the business accelerator was trying to set up an apiary for honey production. They pitched their business case and were awarded 2500 Euros. That was enough to get started. 

Beryl Oyier | Managing Director for East Africa at Bopinc

However, to be successful, these young agripreneurs also need coaching. They need to make the right market connections, understand their businesses and their customers, and above all, show that agroecology is a viable business proposition. So the business accelerator also involved stakeholders including  investors, NGOs, external coaches that know the local markets, and policymakers, to help the young entrepreneurs understand the uniqueness of agroecology as a business. Events like the Innovation Jam hosted in 2022 introduced entrepreneurs to a pool of investors and stakeholders, with plenty of coaching beforehand to prepare their pitches, stand in front of them and sell their unique stories. 

Beryl Oyier, Managing Director for East Africa at Bop Innovation Center (Bopinc), shared her experiences working on the YALTA and Bopinc business accelerator. 

When companies create products or services for low-income communities, these should be of appropriate quality and value. That’s where Bopinc works with companies --from multinationals to Small and Medium-sized enterprises, towards inclusive business models. Bopinc fosters entrepreneurship and empowerment among those communities by, for example, working with inclusive innovation approaches and tools, and generating marketing and distribution strategies. 

So they partnered with YALTA on a business accelerator through which young agroecological entrepreneurs could build capacity for their business models, creating innovative and viable businesses. ‘Young entrepreneurs are very interested, committed and active, although most companies are still very early stages, need a lot of support and are not necessarily ready for significant investment, they still need to grow’, says Beryl. 

These entrepreneurs don’t need large sums of money. Even small investments can have an outsized impact on these budding businesses. For example, one of the companies in the business accelerator was trying to set up an apiary for honey production. They pitched their business case and were awarded 2500 Euros. That was enough to get started. 

Beryl Oyier | Managing Director for East Africa at Bopinc

However, to be successful, these young agripreneurs also need coaching. They need to make the right market connections, understand their businesses and their customers, and above all, show that agroecology is a viable business proposition. So the business accelerator also involved stakeholders including  investors, NGOs, external coaches that know the local markets, and policymakers, to help the young entrepreneurs understand the uniqueness of agroecology as a business. Events like the Innovation Jam hosted in 2022 introduced entrepreneurs to a pool of investors and stakeholders, with plenty of coaching beforehand to prepare their pitches, stand in front of them and sell their unique stories.