Olga Costa  (ELP 2021) | Network Planning Technician, Sonangol Distribuidora, Angola

On a beautiful night in 2017, I was seated watching the night news when they showed a piece with a Khoisan man (Khoisan’s are one of the oldest tribes in the world) that talked about the fact that they were dying from starvation since they had no fruit left on the scarce trees they had and now all they had left to eat were the leaves (they are vegetarians). To better place the situation at hand, I must tell you that I am from Angola and some regions in my country are deserts (Cunene, Cuando Cubango and Huíla) and unfortunately, the Khoisan´s live in those areas.

At that moment my heart sank and I started crying. To see a provider so desperate to feed the people under his care and being helpless is extremely heartbreaking. At that point something changed within me, and I decided to act and not just complain about the unfairness of life. So, I chose to study agriculture to be able to help the people that truly need it. You see, I was working in the national oil company and my wage was at least in the top 10% in my country, but I thought to myself that there were many people that could do the job I was doing but a glaring lack of qualified people to innovate in agriculture.

Hence, I decided to go back to school and make sure that I would be able to provide an adequate service to all the Angolans and specifically to the Khoisan´s people. I found a master’s program in agribusiness from Rome Business School, and I ended up being accepted, but in 2018 the world was in a huge recession and in my country no money was sent overseas. After a year and almost losing my spot, I started my master’s in October 2019. My mind and horizons were expanded with all the information that I was learning. For my midterm project, I created a business plan for the Khoisan´s venture, now all I needed to do was to choose the region, get the land from the government, acquire the loan, and start the project. I decided that an Indoor Vertical Farm (IVF) would be the best idea,  because of the region´s lack of water. I also knew how expensive it would be but the cost benefit made it worth it. If only I had known about the Covid-19 pandemic, so 2020 was “canceled”. Since I live in Luanda, the capital city of my country and the government locked down the city because of the pandemic, I was held “captive” within the city and couldn't get to Cunene to find the appropriate land for the project. 

I managed to finish my master’s in 2020 and right after, I found the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program and got accepted. I knew I would have a lot to learn since my field of operation was in the oil industry but as I said to Dr. Susan Carpenter, I am extremely persistent. I remembered Dr. Mio Katayama Owens talking about the importance of an up to date Linkedin page, consequently, I updated my profile page and decided to look for events in my region that covered agribusiness. That's when I found out about Nourishing Africa, a place where agri-food entrepreneurs change the way agriculture is done, with the collaboration of the Founder Institute Luanda, a pre-seed startup accelerator, were promoting a virtual country roadshow for agribusiness in Angola. I could see first hand, the “doers” doing what I had been dreaming about for so long, and one thing that stuck with me was “all you need to do is to start, big or small just do something!”.

I could see that at one point in my life I got trapped being a dreamer and forgot the doer part. It was a wake-up call for me, so I went back to the drawing board and started looking for companies that offer the materials I need at an affordable price to start the IVF. I’ve found viable companies and I contacted them asking for a quotation. I’m still waiting for an answer, but I will make some arrangements to travel to Cunene and get the necessary land so that I can get a loan and start the project.

In September 2021, the government “opened” the country once again and I started looking for information about the lands in Cunene. Let me tell you that I had a very unpleasant phone call with one representative in the region but somehow, I decided to ignore it and just keep going. It is not about me. I can see that the reality will be more challenging than I´ve anticipated, but all I need to do is to keep going and make it happen. I am planning on taking some time off from work to solve this issue. I wish I had better news for all of you but right now, I’m in the beginning of the process. But I can promise you, that you will hear about the project and the impact in the Khoisan´s lives and the Angolans as a whole. 

So, fingers crossed and wish me luck!!!