Yolele Foods / West African Ancient Grains
Description
Yolélé is a US-based African food brand currently selling products based on climate-resilient smallholder crops like fonio. The company is forming a joint venture called West African Ancient Grains (WAAG) with Mali-Shi, an agri-processor in Mali. WAAG will source fonio, millet, and sorghum from Mali-Shi’s smallholder network of 30,000 women and process efficiency for the global market.
Market Opportunity/ Problem
Yolélé has built global demand for fonio that cannot be met by today’s processors using today’s technology. The equipment used has very slow throughput, and no fonio processing facilities meet global food safety standards. Yolélé is building processing capacity to meet growing demand.
Company Information
Years of operation
4
Type of organization
Private company
Stage of the business
Early stage/ Startup
Agribusiness focus
Value addition/ processing
Agriculture value chain(s) focus?
Food crops
Primary country of operation
Mali
Other country(ies) of operation
Sales: US. Processing: Mali. Distribution hub: Senegal.
How many employees does your business have?
5
Does the business have more than 30% women ownership?
No
Does the business have more than 30% youth ownership (under 35 years)?
No
Financing and expansion overview
How much capital is the company currently fundraising (US$)?
>1m
What is the split between equity and debt?
70% equity and 30% debt