Something wonderful is happening

African farmers are leaving poverty behind...

Cheetah Development, a nonprofit investor, moves poor smallholder farmers from subsistence farming to commercial farming and better livelihoods. Our entrepreneurial farmers can increase their income by 1000% in a single year.

...and taking their future in their own hands

Cheetah Development invests in African agriculture businesses that create markets for our farmers and jobs for others. Our companies buy crops from farmers or sell them products to increase their productivity and profitability.

Modern economies have all been built on the foundation of a thriving agriculture sector. Cheetah Development works with entrepreneurial men and women to build that foundation of commercial farms and agricultural businesses in Africa.

Subsistence farmers eat what they grow and grow what they eat. They have little to sell so they may have little or no actual cash income (though reported income includes food consumed – such as $1 per day). Without cash they struggle to school their children, purchase medicine, etc. These rural and often remote people account for most of the poor on earth, suffer with the most intractable poverty, and is the world’s largest and fastest growing people group.

Africa’s future begins on the farm. Together, we can move 1 billion people from poverty to prosperity in a generation.

The Biggest Opportunity on the Planet

Paradoxically, while subsistence farmers have failed to feed themselves while their opportunity is to feed the world. More than just their opportunity, this is a need for us all. Our work links two massive opportunities in one value-chain so that the world’s largest demographic profitably connects with its largest unmet market.

This market demand is creating attention: Food, agriculture, and related businesses (equipment, software, services, etc.) are expected to be the biggest investment sector for the next 20 years. Although often ignored, smallholder farmers represent a production opportunity and labor force.  They are gaining the attention of the biggest food and agriculture companies in the world. No wonder: they have the needed lands and hands and already produce half of the world’s calories.