Palesa Motaung
Agriculture, mining, sustainability, and the environment
Nominee's Province:
Gauteng
Age:
34
Project Name/Description:
Co-Founder – Agrikool
Palesa Motaung is passionate about food security and the sustainable use of resources. Through her agri-fintech startup, Agrikool, she aims to contribute to Africa’s agricultural revolution by building lasting food systems. Armed with a Master’s degree in Agricultural Soil Science from the University of Pretoria, Motaung hopes to further improve African agriculture by helping farmers use resources efficiently for sustainable and precision farming, while nurturing soil health and feeding the nation. Agrikool enables agri-value chains by leveraging relationships, technology and data to provide access to markets, finance and market intelligence to small-scale and emerging farmers. To date, Agrikool has distributed over 3 million kilograms of fresh produce to a variety of South African retailers, including the Shoprite Group, which is Africa’s biggest retailer. Furthermore, the company has paid out more than R12m to farmers, while registering a total revenue of approximately R20m in less than five years of business operations. Motaung observes that public discourse about land expropriation has led to many young people showing interest in farming. “Soon after the draft bill for land expropriation without compensation a lot more people, especially young people, became more vocal and passionate about agriculture. I think a lot of young people are extremely interested in this field and there is a high percentage of them choosing to study it at tertiary level.”
