From a Delivery Driver To Starting One Of The Most Coveted NGO’s To Work For

One acre fund is arguably one of the most sort after NGOs by Kenyan job seekers.

Recently I was talking to a friend about careers and the best paying companies we have around the country he expressed his desire to switch jobs and of how he wanted to make a move to the NGO sectror which consideredto be  among the best paying employers in the industry.  I can’t blame him. Such NGOs include One Acre Fund.

The NGO a social enterprise based in East Africa that supplies smallholder farmers with a complete bundle of financing and training services to reduce hunger and poverty. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre Fund invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm income through distributing loan packages of seed and fertilizer, financing for farm inputs, agriculture training, and market education to maximize harvest profits. The organization operates in rural villages throughout Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania.

But do the job seekers know who Andrew Young the founder of One acre Fund is?

He started One Acre Fund in 2006. He graduated from Yale magna cum laude. The 33 year old is also a former management consultant, and has received an MBA from Kellogg School of Management. Andrew co-founded the program in Kenya with John Gachunga, and he now lives in Rwanda.

In a recent interview with How we made it in Africa, Andrew Youn gives us an insight of who he is, what he does and what his first job was.

“I started my first job as a delivery driver for a photography studio. At the time I thought it paid good money.”

Mr. Youn biggest impact he says are the real bosses of One Acre Fund, the farmers. Particularly those who are mothers. “You will see them working the field with just a hand hoe and babies strapped to their backs their strength constantly inspires me to keep improving the One Acre Fund model,” adds Mr. youn.

Asked about his greatest worries and what troubles him most in his work, Mr. Youn’s tells How we made it in Africa that hungry children are his worry. “We should never, ever not be able to feed a child. There are 239m undernourished people on this continent, and conveniently, most of them live in farming families whose sole profession is to grow food. One Acre Fund has a solution that helps farmers to grow their own way out of hunger and it’s time to scale that solution to reach as many people as possible.” He says.

But how did he become so successful? Mr. Youn says  that Listening and learning from the farmers they serve is what made him successful.

“Living among them in their rural communities has informed so much of One Acre Fund’s programme model and enables us to continually improve it. We get to see first-hand what’s working and what’s not, every day.”

Mr. Youn has very high hopes for One Acre Fund and his future plans are that One Acre Fund will be able to serve 1m smallholder farmers by 2020.

Mr. Youn messages for Africa’s young aspiring business people and entrepreneurs “apply your skills and ideas towards the positive social good. Use the principles and rigor of business to advance a cause you care about and spend time learning directly from the people you want to serve.”

The story of Andrew Youn is such an inspirational one for young and upcoming African entrepreneurs don’t you think so?

Courtesy: How We Made it in Africa

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