Boaz Pangui; co-founder, Green Feed Solutions.

Green Feed Solutions, a Cameroonian agri-tech start-up led by Boaz Pangui, co-founder, is putting insects at the centre of the food chain to provide sustainable consumer products that it says are 100% natural.

The company says it offers “high-quality”, 100% natural products that are respectful of consumer health and the planet, such as:

* Organic fertilizers,

* Protein-rich feed (Black Soldier Fly proteins, chicken, pork, fish, etc.),

Pangui said: "Our approach is based on developing breeding techniques for an insect called the Black Soldier Fly, known for its ability to bio-convert household and agro-industrial organic waste.

"Additionally, thanks to bees, which play a crucial role in pollination and biodiversity preservation, we produce honey from the Bafou mountains, harvested from eucalyptus reserves in West Cameroon.

"We collaborate with partners such as the European Union, the World Bank, GIZ (through its Meet Africa 2 programme), and Total Energies (via its Total Energies Startup Challenge programme).

"With their support, our ambition is to increase our production capacity to meet the growing demand, but more importantly, to reduce imports and, consequently, the outflow of foreign currency, a major economic challenge for our country."

To this end, he said they are in discussions with a real estate company for the acquisition of a 2-hectare site, which will be essential to facilitate expansion.

He went on to say: "With demand far exceeding supply, we are also seeking external funding to scale up our production capacity and achieve our primary objective: replicating our operations in all major agricultural and livestock production areas of the country to ensure a short supply chain and improved accessibility for consumers.

"Our primary goal is to replicate our activities in every key agricultural and livestock production area of the country. This approach allows us to be closer to consumers and promote short supply chains.

"To make finished products affordable and accessible to the population, we have developed a complete value chain, ranging from the production of raw materials (proteins, fertilizers, etc.) to the manufacturing of finished products (chickens, pork, fish, and honey."

He added: "During the pitch competitions of the Total Énergies Start-up 2024 programme, of which I am the winner in the cycle up category, I had the confirmation that young Cameroonians have solutions that are all at the service of the people."

Last month, the start-up pitched to investors at the AfricArena Grand Summit 2024 in South Africa.

"That's why we believe that programmes that provide facilities (financial, training, networks, etc.) to start-ups such as Total Energies Start-up, Meet Africa 2 and many others should be multiplied to make these startups success stories," said Pangui.