E4Impact Foundation and Coldiretti join forces to strengthen sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship in Africa, supporting local value chains, youth employment and food security through training and technical assistance.
A shared commitment to sustainable agriculture in Africa
Promoting sustainable agriculture in Africa, training workers and managers, and offering alternatives to migration are at the heart of the partnership between E4Impact Foundation and Coldiretti. Coldiretti has joined the foundation after embracing its principles and its focus on Africa’s development through concrete initiatives with strong social impact.
In practical terms, Coldiretti will provide training and technical support to local agricultural entrepreneurs. Africa’s sustainable development depends on building a network of entrepreneurs capable of improving agricultural production in a sustainable way and competing on international markets, including value chains that link Africa with Europe.
E4Impact Foundation and Coldiretti, aligned goals
Letizia Moratti, president of the E4Impact Foundation, welcomed Coldiretti’s entry with enthusiasm: “It is always inspiring to welcome a new partner into our mission to promote social and sustainable entrepreneurship in Africa.
The involvement of Coldiretti gives us a unique opportunity to draw on its experience and expertise in the agricultural sector, helping us support sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship across the continent.
We believe this partnership can deliver tangible and positive results for African local communities and for the sustainable future of the continent.”
Training agricultural entrepreneurship in Africa
E4Impact’s approach is highly pragmatic. At its core, the foundation aims to train local entrepreneurs and enable African businesses to develop new projects and partnerships with Italian companies.
A concrete example is Sweet Africa, a startup founded in Italy in 2020 with operational activities in Kenya, focused on the cultivation and marketing of fully traceable and certified fruit across the entire supply chain.
Another key area is the valorisation of the arabica coffee supply chain. Today, commercialization is largely controlled by major corporations, leaving limited value for local producers. Here, E4Impact steps in by providing entrepreneurial training, along with defining communication and branding strategies for coffee products.
The goal is to secure proper market positioning for Kenyan arabica coffee, strengthening its economic and social impact on local communities, a model that can be relevant across sub-Saharan Africa.
Strengthening local realities
E4Impact operates in 20 African countries, where it has trained more than 6,000 entrepreneurs and helped create over 30,000 jobs. Through its accelerator and business incubator, the foundation provides legal, financial, training, and mentoring support to more than 78 local companies and startups.
Support is directed primarily at small and medium-sized enterprises, assessed also on the basis of their environmental, economic, and social impact. Training combines theory and practice, with a strong focus on young people and women, who are central to Africa’s agricultural transformation in countries such as Senegal, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
As explained by Ettore Prandini, president of Coldiretti, “the objective is to export a development model that focuses on strengthening local realities, leveraging the potential of family farming and supporting small producers in the Global South. These producers are threatened by distortions in food production and distribution systems that encourage land grabbing and drive people away from rural areas toward wealthier countries, where suffering and marginalisation often await them.
It is essential to promote local product supply chains designed to meet territorial food needs, also through the creation of zero-kilometre farmers’ markets, following the model promoted by Campagna Amica within the World Farmers Market Coalition.”
