Ali (Ghana): How I made money planting Moringa trees

‘Miracle’ moringa tree offers route out of poverty

Post Reporters 20th September 2016

Ali Abdul Salam and his wife are maize and rice farmers in central Ghana. They long sought to expand their farm, but until they were approached by MoringaConnect they lacked the funding to do so.

MoringaConnect is a social enterprise that helps Ghanaian farmers out of poverty by supporting them to grow moringa trees.

Known locally as “the Miracle Tree”, the drought-resistant moringa produces seeds that are rich in anti-oxidant oils and leaves that have more vitamin A than carrots, more protein than eggs, more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach.

MoringaConnect has worked with about 1,500 farmers across Ghana, helping to increase their incomes by as much as 1,000 per cent

MoringaConnect’s founders, Kwami Williams and Emily Cunningham, have developed a line of moringa-based oils, infusions and foods which they process and sell through a global sales network.

They help farmers such as Ali by offering them the training, financing and support they need to start moringa farms along with a guaranteed market for their products. They’ve worked with about 1,500 farmers across Ghana, helping to increase their incomes by as much as 1,000 per cent. As Ali says: “Cultivating moringa is very lucrative if you do it properly.”

MoringaConnect is now ready to help farmers in other African countries. To help it and other social enterprises enhance their social impact, the British Council has brought together two organisations – Growth Mosaic in Ghana and Investing for Good in the UK – to co-develop an investment fund to finance MoringaConnect and other social enterprises in Ghana.

The British Council's Global Social Enterprise programme draws on UK expertise to promote the development of social enterprise and social investment across the world. This is one of four new films the British Council is launching this week in the run-up to the Social Enterprise World Forum to raise awareness of the positive impact that social enterprises are delivering in communities around the world.

Come back tomorrow to see the next inspiring film!