Going green – African Women in Agribusiness

Women entrepreneurs from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia, Burundi, and Rwanda took part in a workshop for green technology in agribusiness on October 3-4 in Arusha, Tanzania. The workshop was organized by Chamber Trade Sweden together with its partners African Women in Agribusiness (AWAN) and East African Women in Agribusiness Platform (EAWiBP) with the goal of enabling its member companies to work more proactively with sustainable development turning green business into profit.

The workshop covered water and wastewater treatment, solar energy and solar energy distribution models, waste management and waste-to-energy solutions. Key experts from Sweden were Jonas Röttorp from IVL, Paulina Norup from Norups Gård, Adam Brännström from Eskilstuna Energi och Miljö and Katja Airosto from Air by Solar.

Benchmarking and new knowledge on implementing green technology in agribusiness was acquired and a number of action points were formulated:

Passing on the knowledge to other women entrepreneurs in the EAWIBP and AWAN networks.
Lobbying governments for a more comprehensive environmental strategy on a country level as well as on an East African level
Partnering up and cooperating with other organisations and government agencies to enable investment in greentech in local communities and business.

The workshop was closed by Gudula Naiga Basaza from Uganda saying “-The decisions we make today as a result of this exposure will be marked in history and will be tied to our legacy”.