NAIROBI — Kofi Annan, Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA), announced today the appointment of a renowned African
business leader from Kenya, Ms Jane Karuku, as the new president of the
organization.
Ms Karuku was selected after an exhaustive international search process.
She joins AGRA from Telkom Kenya a subsidiary of France Telecom-Orange where
she has been Deputy Chief Executive. She takes over from Dr Namanga Ngongi
who is retiring after five years as the first president of AGRA.
“Hundreds of thousands of poor rural households in Africa have already
benefited from AGRA’s work and under Ms Karuku’s leadership we can look
forward to continued success in moving African farmers along a path to
prosperity and ensuring food security,” said Mr Annan.
Ms Karuku’s career has spanned over 20 years, most of which has been spent
in the agricultural sector. She has held senior positions in a number of
successful international corporate entities including Farmers Choice and
Cadbury Limited where she served as the managing director with
responsibility for 14 countries in the East and Central African region. Ms
Karuku was educated at the University of Nairobi and holds an MBA from
California National University.
“Smallholder farming is a way of life in Africa, full of challenges and
equally full of huge opportunities. I am very excited and feel privileged
to be part of the journey to transform the lives of millions of smallholder
farmers, and look forward to when we can look back and celebrate this
transformation as a ‘gift’ to the people of Africa and its future
generations,” said Ms Karuku.
Mr Annan also acknowledged the tremendous work done by Dr Namanga Ngongi in
establishing AGRA as a leading African agricultural organization.
“I would like to thank Dr Namanga Ngongi for his role in building AGRA into
a widely recognized and effective organization. Under his leadership, AGRA
has made significant achievements and is already firmly on track to achieve
its mission of catalysing the achievement of a green revolution in Africa.”
AGRA was founded in 2007, with initial funding and technical support from
the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It has
since added numerous other international foundations, donor agencies,
multilateral financial institutions, corporate donors and banks. AGRA and
its funding partners work closely with governments in Africa, farmer
organizations and smallholder farmers in a formidable alliance to develop
and nurture an African green revolution.
Since its formation, AGRA has been working to enhance the economic
empowerment of African smallholder farmers and improving food security. It has
contributed towards efforts to address critical challenges affecting
agriculture in Africa.
Key achievements to-date include the development of strategies to turn key
African countries into breadbaskets that can feed the whole of the African
continent. AGRA also supports the advanced education of the next
generation of plant and soil scientists and has sponsored nearly 100 MSc
and PhD students in several African universities. AGRA has also supported
the establishment and strengthening of 60 new local African seed companies
and is helping to develop markets in Africa and works with farmer
associations to ensure that smallholder farmers meet quality standards and
effectively manage contractual agreements with large buyers. Working
closely with several major financial partners, AGRA has established risk
sharing facilities that are leveraging millions of dollars in affordable
loans for smallholder farmers and small to medium-sized agribusinesses
across Africa.