Agripreneurs and farmers from across South Africa are invited to a roundtable on agriculture’s “triple challenge” of ensuring food security and nutrition for a growing population.
Hosted by Corteva Agriscience and the GIBS Entrepreneurship Development Academy (EDA), the virtual roundtable event will connect entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and ecosystem players.
The event will be live-streamed on all of Food For Mzansi’s platforms on Tuesday, 16 November 2021 from 10:00 to 12:00.
Organisers say the roundtable will offer a platform for key voices to set the table to address the “triple challenge”, including supporting and providing livelihoods for the millions of people working in the food supply chain. This needs to be done in an environmentally sustainable way.
What to expect
The event will be aligned with Global Entrepreneurship Month in November. It is held amid concern that food systems around the world face the triple challenge. This must be tackled together if we are to make sustainable progress in any of them.
Making progress is indeed challenging, as initiatives in one domain can have inadvertent repercussions in another. Better policies will require breaking down silos between agriculture, environmental and health policies, and overcoming knowledge gaps.
To address these challenges and to pave the way for a better future, Corteva Agriscience and the GIBS EDA are hosting a thought-provoking discussion, that will allow for audience input at the end of the session.
Leading agricultural voices will share their expert insights around a food systems approach and the opportunities and challenges policymakers need to consider when making better policies.
Top speaker line-up
The keynote speaker, Vanessa Adams, is the vice president of strategic partnerships and chief of party: partnership for inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
Adams is a proven leader with 25 years of progressive experience across 42 countries, integrating over 12 agricultural and consumer goods value chains into regional and global markets.
She contributed to the founding of three pan-African NGOs, including the African Cashew Alliance, Borderless Alliance and Global Shea Alliance. Adams also initiated the Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network in Ethiopia and has brokered partnerships with fortune 500 companies.
Panellists include Tatjana von Bormann, a food system, strategy and strategic foresight specialist; Colleen Magner, co-founder and managing director of the Africa office for Reos Partners; and Professor Sheryl Hendriks, a food security expert with the University of Pretoria.
The moderator, Mpho Mashita, is an author, social entrepreneur and radio presenter.
Committed to empowerment
As part of its 2030 sustainability goals, Corteva Agriscience has committed to empowering women to help them become successful farmers, small-business owners and providers for their families.
To this end, they are committed to engaging with and supporting women in agriculture across the globe. Women from the largest farms in the most advanced economies to the smallest subsistence farms in the developing world.
This roundtable event takes place alongside Corteva Agriscience and GIBS EDA’s immersive programme, which serves as a development intervention for women farmers to develop their entrepreneurial, leadership and business skills to manage and sustain profitable farms.
All seats for the in-person session at the GIBS campus have been reserved. To attend the event via Zoom, simply click here to register.
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