Kenya emerged as a big winner at the 2025 Women Agripreneurs of the Year Awards (WAYA), with two trailblazing innovators taking top honours in a competition that spotlighted Africa’s most impactful women-led agribusinesses.

The Grand Prize went to Mathildah Amollo, founder of Greatlakes Feeds Ltd, for revolutionising aquaculture in Siaya County. Since 2021, her company has been producing high-quality fingerlings and eco-friendly fish feeds while sourcing 70 per cent of its inputs from women farmers.

Amollo’s credit-based fish cage model has empowered women to enter commercial aquaculture, helping to end the exploitative “sex for fish” practice on Lake Victoria while tackling malnutrition and overfishing.

Kenya also celebrated a second major win through Joyce Waithira Rugano, founder of Ecorich Solutions, who was named Female Ag-Tech Innovator of the Year.

Her company created the solar-powered WasteBot decomposer, which converts organic waste into fertiliser within 24 hours. Working with more than 400 women waste collectors in Nairobi, Rugano is turning food waste into sustainable livelihoods while making eco-friendly fertiliser accessible to farmers.

Beyond Kenya, the 2025 WAYA Awards honoured 10 outstanding women from across the continent who are redefining agriculture with homegrown solutions.

Uganda’s Juliet Kakwerre N Tumusiime won Women Empowerment Champion for her company, Cheveux Organique, which turns banana stems into Africa’s first biodegradable hair extensions, creating income opportunities for more than 2,000 rural women.

Benin’s Julienne Olawolé Agossadou was named Resilient and Inspirational Leader for founding SEDAMI – La Reine des Champignons, which transforms rice husks into a medium for mushroom farming, boosting nutrition and incomes for rural women with minimal land use.

Nigeria’s Roberta Edu-Oyedokun, founder of Moppet Foods, won Outstanding Value-Adding Enterprise for her biofortified cereals and spreads, including the world’s first fruit-infused peanut butter, aimed at fighting child malnutrition.

South Africa’s Onicca Sibanyona earned the Young Female Agripreneur (Rising Star) award for running Jwale Farms, a rural agribusiness that promotes climate-smart farming, food security, and clean water access while supporting young mothers and youth.

Regional Rising Star winners were also recognised: Burundi’s Arlène of SEFACO for fish farming training; Nigeria’s Baliqees Salaudeen-Ibrahim, founder of Green Republic Farms, for renewable energy-powered vegetable production; the DRC’s Elie Mbeki Busha Pongo of La Fleur for producing 100% natural bouillon cubes; and Malawi’s Lusungu of Lweya Honey for empowering communities through beekeeping and forest conservation.

This year’s winners shared US$300,000 (Ksh38.8 million) in grant funding from the ValueForHer program, reflecting growing investment in women-led ventures as a cornerstone of Africa’s food security strategy. The winners were selected from nearly 2,000 applicants across the continent.

Alice Ruhweza, President of AGRA, highlighted the tangible results of these enterprises, praising the founders for turning constraints into thriving businesses.

“Collectively, they’ve increased annual incomes by an estimated 35%, saved millions of tonnes of produce from spoilage, and delivered food to over 500,000 households. Their businesses prove that innovation and resilience are alive across Africa’s food systems. At AGRA, our role is to back them with stronger policy support, smarter finance, and access to bigger markets so they can multiply their reach and drive systemic change,” she remarked.

From fish farming on Lake Victoria to solar-powered waste recycling in Nairobi, the 2025 WAYA winners are proving that women are not just shaping Africa’s agricultural future — they are securing it.