Alice M. Kavili

Founder

Alice is a youth who is passionate about contributing towards sustainable development in the least developed countries, with a keen focus on rural areas, in Africa and beyond. She is a certified project management specialist (PMP) with multi-year experience coordinating multi- sectoral social impact projects and programs.

 

Before founding Rise Africa Agricultural Services, Alice served with IDEO.org – a global non- profit design studio, as their portfolio coordinator where she coordinated human- centered design projects and programs targeting different sectors in Africa and occasionally globally. She also served with University of Washington – Kenya, where she coordinated Global Health Projects.

 

Founder's Story: From Tomato Dreams to Rise Africa Agricultural Services.

 

In January 2017, after years of thinking about it, I decided to explore an additional income stream beyond my 8 - 5 job.  After much contemplation, I was drawn to agriculture, particularly tomato farming, as a promising venture. 

 

As a first step, I sought advice from people who were experienced in tomato farming. I reached out to a trusted friend who at the time worked for one of the world's top agricultural companies. He linked me up with his colleague who was an accomplished tomato farmer and marketer in Kenya, with extensive knowledge about everything tomatoes, from seed varieties to seasonal market prices. His invaluable insight made me ‘adopt’ him as my primary consultant, while I continued to broaden my Knowledge on tomato farming.

 

Being one to make calculated moves, I took time to do extensive research on tomato farming as a way to ensure I was well informed before deciding whether to invest my life's savings, at the time, into the venture. My hope was definitely to have those savings multiplied significantly through the investment. I decided to visit a prospective farm in Narosura, Narok County, where the cost of leasing land per acre per season was Ksh. 8,000 at the time. By the time I was going, I had already bought seeds worth Ksh. 17,000 and was ready to start farming if everything checked out. The trip from Nairobi to Narosura was at least 4 hours long and it was one I was willing to make every fortnight to go and monitor the farm's progress once I invested. I was determined!

 

Unfortunately, by the time I was done doing the much- needed research and paying the potential farm a visit, the prime planting season had already passed, as they say, time waits for no man, or woman, as a matter of fact! One of the key lessons I learnt at that time was that timing is crucial for tomato farming—planting during the dry season maximizes demand and profitability. My delay in research cost me a valuable investment opportunity!

 

I kept the seeds with the hopes of planting them at a later date until my good friend told me that they spoil after sometime. Upon this realization, I decided to give them to yet another friend who farmed tomatoes in Ol Donyo Sabuk with the agreement that he would plant them and pay me back the money I'd used to buy them once he made his sales. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned; the seeds failed to germinate and I made a loss of Ksh. 17,000!!

 

Reflecting on my experience, I wondered what I could have done differently so as to increase my chances of reaping profits from that farming venture and the answer was one: invest early in my learning! This realization inspired me to found Rise Africa Agricultural Services whose mission is to empower farmers and aspiring farmers with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to invest and thrive in sustainable agricultural ventures through partnerships with key stakeholders!

Welcome to our network; let’s learn and grow together!