Current partners
African Leadership Academy’s AL for Agribusiness Network (ALAN) is a network that supports and develops young leaders who will contribute to the transformation of the agriculture sector across Africa. ALAN supports young African leaders in the agribusiness space to develop their leadership skills, collaborate together around projects of shared interest, and explore internship and employment opportunities through engagement with the African agribusiness sector. ALAN organises this work through a network approach.
Small Foundation initially partnered with ALAN in 2020 to 2023 to support the early stage development of the network.
In 2024, Small Foundation renewed its support through a four-year partnership that will continue to support the operations of ALAN.
Network Spotlight – Impact in 2025
In 2025, African Leadership Academy’s AL for Agribusiness Network (ALAN) continued supporting young African leaders in the agribusiness space to develop their leadership skills, collaborate on projects of shared interest, and explore internship and employment opportunities across the continent’s agribusiness sector. ALAN connected its members to 92 internships and jobs through 36 employer partners. In December 2025, this was reinforced by an AI-enabled CV tool to scale career readiness support.
The network’s core program, the Co-Creation Fund, supports member-led collaborative initiatives. In 2025, demand quadrupled, signalling that the bottleneck is not interest but capital. A total of 183 members submitted 43 projects, and ALAN funded ten teams (43 members) who are now running six-month projects across 5 countries starting in March 2026. The previous cohort, funded in 2024, is already showing the positive impact of this model. Seven teams trained hundreds of farmers across Benin, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria. This included skills training in mushroom farming for refugee communities and demonstration-based training on organic inputs production.
In addition to the Co-Creation Fund, ALAN’s working groups delivered targeted, needs-based interventions. In Denbiya District, Ethiopia, a group-built trust with local farmer cooperatives and youth groups, delivered legal rights workshops and a mobile legal aid clinic, reaching over 30 individuals in accessible formats, then handed over a self-sustaining digital resource hub run by trained community facilitators, ending their own involvement. In Zimbabwe, a group partnered with SNV Zimbabwe and engineering students at Kushinga Phikelela Polytechnic to design and build a prototype solar dryer, which was validated with farmers in Murewa District ahead of farmer training in the next phase. In Gulu, Uganda, a group trained two farmer groups in post-harvest quality and safety practices, enabling farmers to better assess produce quality and handle grain after harvest.
The network itself grew from 937 members in December 2024 to 1,239 in December 2025. This growth was sustained through 15 virtual convenings, 2 regional gatherings, and a new Network Support Committee of experienced members serving as coaches, building the leadership pipeline that feeds the Fund and working groups in future cohorts.
ALAN also supported members to attend the Africa Food Systems Forum in Dakar, where they connected with partners including Generation Africa, AGRA, and AKADEMIYA2063. A 2025 Network Health Survey found strong member satisfaction (Net Promoter Score of +70) and growing professional value, with 98% of respondents saying ALAN helps them build sector connections.
