Skoll Entrepreneur(s): Andrew Youn
Change(s) Addressed: Economic & Social Equity
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One Acre Fund
DESCRIPTION:
After serving as a strategic consultant to Fortune 500 companies and spending time in Africa learning about the root causes of rural poverty, Andrew Youn launched One Acre Fund during his MBA studies at Northwestern Kellogg. One Acre Fund takes an integrated value-chain approach to empowering rural farmers in Kenya and Rwanda, providing them with farming inputs, training and capacity building, and access to markets. In less than 4 years, One Acre Fund has helped triple the harvests and double the income per acre for subsistence farm families representing more than 100,000 of the world’s poorest, with the goal of reaching millions more in the next 10 years in sub-Saharan Africa.
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS OF 2010
- More than 24,000 farm families have tripled their food production and, after input repayments to One Acre Fund, have doubled their profit per acre. These farm families represent more than 144,000 people — including approximately 96,000 children
- Doubling of profit on one acre of land generates approximately 1,000 pounds of additional food, or 2,000 person-meals.
- Repayment rates for farmers who purchase farm inputs on credit currently average 98%.
- The One Acre Fund program achieves 50% reduction in mortality rates for children from birth to age 2 in its areas of operation.
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