Blog From beans to businesses: How the Alliance is growing entrepreneurs in Malawi
On Sept 5, 2025, the Alliance won Malawi’s “Best Incubation and Capacity Building” award for its BA4Y project, which empowers youth startups and SMEs with funding, training, and mentorship to drive jobs and resilient businesses.
When the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT won Malawi's award for "Best Incubation and Capacity Building for Small and Medium Businesses" on September 5th, 2025, presented by Africa Agriculture in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, and the Centre for Agricultural Transformation (CAT) it might have seemed like a case of mistaken identity. After all, this is an organization that has spent four decades perfecting bean varieties, not business models. Yet the award tells a deeper story, one that reveals the skills needed to nurture crops and to nurture entrepreneurs are remarkably similar.
The Alliance arrived in Malawi in the 1980s with a simple mission: help farmers grow better beans. The crop was considered an “orphan,” mostly grown for household consumption, ignored by policymakers, and far from commercially viable.
Through the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA), the Alliance has developed more than 30 improved bean varieties, built vibrant seed systems, and opened markets supporting millions of farmers and dozens of private seed companies.
But the Alliance’s mission in Malawi has never been just about seeds. It has always been about people and about building systems that help families and businesses thrive. That mission has recently taken an exciting turn: beyond agricultural research, the Alliance is now directly shaping Malawi’s private sector landscape through the Business Acceleration for Youth (BA4Y) project.
Launched in 2022, the BA4Y project focusses on strengthening and accelerating Startups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across multiple sectors from agriculture and agro-processing to sustainable energy and digital services.
The Incubation Program supports 500 early-stage, youth-owned startups across sectors. The program focuses on fundamentals: business model development, proof of concept testing, and establishing solid internal structures. Through competitive pitch events, 200 of these startups have received $2,500 USD grants each seed funding that often makes the difference between a promising idea and a thriving business.
The Acceleration Program works with 61 SMEs that have moved beyond the startup phase. These businesses get specialized technical assistance, connections to industry expertise, and help accessing the capital they need to scale. The SMEs have received $10,000 USD worth of technical support, covering everything from business plan development to investment readiness and 26 of them have secured matching grants of up to $75,000 USD, providing the capital injection needed to scale operations and create jobs.
The Multiplier Effect: Beyond Numbers to Impact
But BA4Y’s true impact is not just in numbers, it is in the stories of entrepreneurs creating jobs, diversifying income, and building resilient businesses that can attract and effectively utilize investment creating a sustainable foundation for long-term economic development.
Rita Kumwenda of Parah Enterprise’s story in Zomba epitomizes this transformation. In a country where mushroom farming was largely untested, she believed she could create something valuable. With her $2,500 grant from the BA4Y project, Rita constructed a production house and launched what would become a thriving enterprise focusing on alternative protein sources.
Today, Rita's operation is impressive. she produces both white and grey oyster mushrooms, harvesting approximately 30 kilograms each week, and has diversified into value-added products such as dried mushrooms and mushroom crisps. She now employs four staff members. The training she received during BA4Y bootcamps proved just as valuable as the initial capital. Her sound financial practices and strategic planning attracted additional funding, including a MWK23 million ($13,000) grant from the National Youth Council of Malawi to expand mushroom spawn (seed) production, a critical bottleneck in the country’s emerging mushroom industry.
Remarkably, Rita has become a trainer and catalyst for others. She now provides mushroom production training to smallholder farmers and cooperatives, creating not just an additional revenue stream for herself, but empowering entire communities to diversify their agricultural practices, diets and income sources.
Adrian Semba's journey with Khama Cattle Ranch in Chikwawa tells an equally compelling story of the impact of capacity building and investment. Khama Cattle Ranch specializes in sustainable livestock production, including cattle and goats. The ranch adopted an innovative stall-feeding model that prioritizes animal care and feed production, functioning simultaneously as a production facility and a learning center for others interested in sustainable livestock farming.
As a participant in the BA4Y Acceleration Program, Adrian credits BA4Y with "putting his business on the map and opening doors that seemed permanently closed.”
The business received not just funding but the kind of bespoke technical assistance that helped establish clear business planning and sound financial management systems. The impact of the $75,000 matching grant from the project has been a game changer. Khama Cattle Ranch has expanded from slightly over 300 animals to 1,000 increased meat production from 10,000 kg weekly to over 16,000 kg, grew their workforce from 19 to 30 employees, and expanded their network of smallholder farmer suppliers from 150 to over 200.
The business has doubled its annual turnover and attracted interest from financial institutions offering over MWK200 million in funding opportunities, a level of investor confidence that Adrian says was "nearly impossible" before BA4Y support. This is not just business growth; it is the creation of an entire ecosystem of opportunity that extends from the ranch to rural farmers to urban consumers.
Rita Kumwenda's mushroom business.
Mushroom production in process.
Meet Rita Kumwenda, one of BA4Y 's beneficiaries.
The award the Alliance received at the recent Cassava Bootcamp held at the Khichini Innovation Hub in Lilongwe recognizes more than program metrics; it celebrates a shift in how agricultural research institutions can drive economic growth. The BA4Y project is generating multiplier effects across the economy turning innovative ideas into jobs, sustainable businesses, and resilient communities.
“The Alliance is honoured to receive this recognition, and we are grateful to the organisers and our incredible Malawi team,” said David Slane, the Alliance Malawi Country Representative and BA4Y Chief of Party. “This award reflects our mission to empower entrepreneurs and strengthen their resilience in Malawi a goal we continue to advance through the Business Acceleration for Youth Project.
