Joseph Mwangi🔺

I spent today with key stakeholders who shape the work at @ViAgroforestry in Nairobi. Since 1983, Vi has helped plant over 165 million trees. In 2025 alone, it restored 49,750 hectares of degraded land. Here is what I took away. The tree is the start. The farmer group is what keeps it alive. Many of these groups are run by farmers, with no paid staff. They need records, trust and a way to get paid on time. That is where @Autopayke fits. We are building the last mile: one payment to many farmers, with a record of who was paid and why. We are early, and we are building it for cooperatives. A tree is a promise. A payment on record is proof.

Moving money for African coffee traders is hard. Proving where the coffee came from, to a European buyer, is harder. That gap is why I flew to Rome and Naples last week for the Lab Innova for Africa "Luca Attanasio" Study Tour, run by @ITAtradeagency. Founders from Kenya, Tunisia and Morocco. A week of training, months of mentoring, then the tour. What I'm taking home: 1. Don't reinvent the wheel. 2. Build with your users, not for them. 3. Make it physical. If people can't touch it, they can't picture it. 4. Africa is ahead in places. Some of our systems belong in the EU. 5. Compliance isn't a cost. It's the product. Thank you @ITAtradeagency, @ITAformazione, Lorenzo Galanti, Zakia Seddiki Attanasio, Fabio Santoni, Aleardo Furlani and my cohort. Let's keep building. African founders, the doors to Europe are open. Most never hear about them. I'm here to change that. I'll share the programs, buyers and funding calls I find, as I find them. Tell me what you're chasing. I'll point you to the right door.