What Global Food Entrepreneurs Teach Us About Building Stronger Businesses

By Russ Webster and Roberta Lauretti-Bernhard

The African Development Bank projects that the continent’s food and agriculture market could grow from about $280 billion annually to $1 trillion by 2030. (African Development Bank, Ten-Year Strategy 2024–2033). In other sectors as well, increased population, urbanization, and global trade are creating opportunity for African entrepreneurs, who are responding in force.  

The stories shared in How We Made It In Africa point to a consistent theme among successful businesses: sustainable growth is built on resilience, operational discipline, and systems that support consistency over time. As food companies expand, informal processes are no longer enough. Consistency, traceability, and food safety systems become essential to scaling responsibly and meeting buyer expectations. 

These challenges are reflected in the work Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) does with food enterprises across Africa’s growing economy. At FES, we help food businesses strengthen the operational foundations that support growth. Our clients are often navigating the shift from early growth to more structured operations, and we work alongside them to build practical food safety and quality systems, improve consistency across operations, and prepare teams for audits and regulatory expectations without slowing momentum. 

Sometimes businesses in emerging economies are doubly challenged. Getting access to training materials in local languages is not always easy.  Meeting this challenge, FES developed and delivered food safety training in the local language for “Gourméa” a Senegalese startup that makes ready-to-eat meat products.  

Gourméa employees packaging meat products

The owner, Mrs. Fatima Basse, stated “the availability of training in local languages was most helpful to me as manager of a food company. Also, my employees were able to choose among multiple time slots to be trained remotely, which did not [negatively] affect the work in my business.”

In Ethiopia, FES local experts trained over 4,400 individuals in food safety best practices, including employees of Luna Export, one of Ethiopia’s leading providers of meat products for export and local markets.  

Luna Export quality manager inspecting beef at the processing plant

These businesses, and those featured in How We Made It in Africa, show that success begins with a good product, but then is built on operational best practices, entrepreneurial drive, and business acumen that ensure products reach new markets safely, consistently, and sustainably. The outstanding work of this growing class of African businesses highlights the fact that sustainable growth comes from pairing strong ideas with the systems that help bring innovation to scale with confidence into new markets at home and abroad. 

For more information, visit us at www.foodsolutions.global or contact us at info@foodsolutions.global 

Source: How We Made It In Africa