Innovation Enterprise Liberia

Innovation Enterprise Liberia (IEL) is an agribusiness support program within the VOSIEDA portfolio in Liberia that provides high-quality agricultural business development services by building the capacity of smallholder farmers to establish trust and transparent business relationships among all actors involved.

Incorporating and improving the performance of small-scale farmers into sustainable supply chains

VOSIEDA works to improve the performance of small-scale farmer supply chains. Our team implements an inclusive Farm-to-Market model through an integrated supply chain to enable SMEs to source horticultural produce directly from smallholder farmers throughout rural Liberia. Through our business model, we provide access to finance, crop-specific inputs, and support services to smallholder farmers resulting in increased productivity, loyalty, and lower transaction costs. The inclusive model improves livelihoods and enables sustainable linkages to urban markets through supply agreements or contracts.

Enhances Access to Safer and Healthier Food, and Products

VOSIEDA is committed to incentivizing initiatives and production practices that make safer, healthier, and more sustainable food accessible to everyone while protecting the planet. VOSIEDA achieves this through its active role in championing a fundamentally different food system in which healthy and sustainable food is affordable and available to all through mainstream channels such as supermarkets, farmers’ markets, school canteens, hospitals, and so on. VOSIEDA organizes farmers based on the capacity of the SMEs and meets basic food safety and traceability standards. Our out-grower management system provides evidence of the traceability of produce along with producers’ profiles and unique identifiable codes.

Establishes Agribusiness Clusters and Provide Targeted Coaching

An Agribusiness Cluster is a network of local value chain actors who interact in a specific geographical area to produce an agricultural commodity for a target market through a common vision. VOSIEDA is establishing agribusiness clusters throughout its work. To sustain cluster activities, VOSIEDA partners with local, trusted agribusiness coaches to connect value chain actors, such as farmers, input suppliers, transport services, credit services, traders, local processors, and off-takers, and ultimately transform clusters into efficient, sustainable, and profitable partnerships. Our trainers support these actors to jointly address business constraints in their specific value chains.

Training to improve eco-efficient horticulture production for increased market share.

VOSIEDA supports actors within a given agribusiness cluster to jointly address evolving business constraints in value chains. This includes maintaining consistent quantity and quality of vegetable standards, building the capacity of smallholder farmers in good agricultural practices, business skills, financial education, and brokering linkages between value chain actors. Our training approach is designed to impart knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes and behaviors while maximizing participation, knowledge exchange, and ownership.

VOSIEDA offers support services to its business champions, which include small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and farmer groups. These services encourage inclusive agribusiness and enable the production, transformation, and supply of quality food products. These products are distributed to local and regional markets, including the base of the pyramid of consumers.