Young Entrepreneurs Using Video to Empower Rural Communities
From the remote villages of Uganda and Madagascar, young entrepreneurs are showing that business success starts with listening to your audience. Ochen Umar Bashir and Karine Rakotoniainasoa share how they use solar-powered smart projectors to show training videos in local languages, boosting incomes, building trust, and growing community skills. Learn how to develop sustainable ventures, tailor content to local needs, and turn innovative video delivery into real impact, even where there’s no internet.
Speakers
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Karine RakotoniainasoaERA Coach for MadagascarKarine Rakotoniainasoa
ERA Coach for Madagascar
Access AgricultureKarine has a Master's degree in Botany from the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. As an entrepreneur herself who is passionate about agroecology and committed to improving farmers conditions, Karine worked for 3 years with a community in a remote area of the Malagasy highlands, promoting sustainable agricultural practices and opening up access to better markets for agricultural products before joining Access Agriculture.
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Phil MaloneCo-FounderPhil Malone
Co-Founder
Access AgriculturePhil is a communications specialist and an ex-BBC radio broadcaster. For well over 35 years, Phil has advised senior government officials on communication throughout the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He has worked with professionals in many industries to help them communicate more effectively. With Access Agriculture Phil helps with training teams to translate farmer-to-farmer training videos into local languages. He also assists the Entrepreneur Teams using solar powered smart projectors to be effective service providers.
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Umar Bashir OchenExtension OfficerUmar Bashir Ochen
Extension Officer
Warrior Squad foundationOchen fell in love with agriculture as a child. His parents encouraged him to study agriculture, and he graduated with a Diploma in crop production and management from Busitema University, Uganda. After university he wanted to cascade the knowledge he had gained to other farmers. For 5 years he worked with Warrior Squad Foundation in northern Uganda, where he was able to train farmers on how to establish gardens and make organic pesticides and compost. He then worked with Mercy Corps and Catholic Relief Services. This enabled Ochen to network with other partners like the Slow Food Movement that deals on issues of traditional foods and culture preservation, agroecology, and organic farming – all issues close to his heart. Ochen was elected as a food leader and a community organiser in the Karamoja region and a Board Member of the Africa regional council. Last year he was awarded the Founders Prize by the worldwide Slow Food Movement.