Initiative targets 50,000 jobs through women-led agribusiness by 2035

Kenjava Mwaniki Wakagoto addressing crowds after handing over tents to 100 groups in Embu County.[Benard Orwongo,Standard]

A private foundation in Embu is targeting the creation of 50,000 jobs by 2035 through a development model that links women farmers to export markets while investing in infrastructure.

The initiative, driven by agribusiness, seeks to transform Embu into an industrial hub under the Embu Industrial Revolution – Vision 2035, spearheaded by entrepreneur Kenjava Mwaniki Wakagoto through the Wakagoto Foundation.

The plan aims to establish more than 100 industries, each employing at least 500 young people, with a strong focus on value addition and market access.

So far, the foundation has equipped over 100 women groups in Gaturi South Ward, Manyatta Sub-county, with tents and avocado seedlings. It has also distributed Christmas support to more than 20,000 families amid rising living costs and completed the Dubai–Kagumori–Karingari road to improve transportation and open up trade routes.

The drive comes as local entrepreneurs continue to shoulder much of Embu County’s economic activity. Grassroots enterprises and agribusiness form the backbone of household incomes in a county that already records one of Kenya’s lowest youth unemployment rates, at 13 per cent.

Kenya’s avocado exports earned $159 million (Sh20.5 billion) in 2024, representing an 11 per cent increase from the previous year. Production is projected to rebound by 4 per cent in 2025 to reach 585,000 metric tonnes, driven by expanded cultivation and improved quality control.

In 2024, Embu County produced avocados on 609 hectares, contributing to a national industry dominated by smallholder farmers, most of whom own less than one acre of land and manage between 10 and 20 avocado trees per homestead.

“Our vision is to support our youth into employment through industrialisation in Embu,” Wakagoto said.

He is positioning the county to tap into Kenya’s growing avocado export market by directly linking women farmers to buyers and guaranteeing ready markets for milk and avocados to boost household purchasing power.

“Our people are industrious farmers, and they must get value for their produce. I have ready markets for milk and avocado so that our purchasing power can increase,” he added.

The Netherlands emerged as Kenya’s leading avocado export destination in 2024, accounting for 32 per cent of total exports, followed by the United Arab Emirates at 16 per cent.

The initiative places community empowerment at the centre of Embu’s economic transformation, formalising women-led enterprises and expanding farming ventures to raise household incomes in a county where agriculture remains the backbone of the economy, with coffee and dairy farming as major income earners.