Seed cleaning machines alone have little added value – only when entrepreneurial thinking, ownership and organisational skills meet technical knowledge can the full potential of an agricultural innovation really be unleashed.
To this end, since October 2024, AHA and the GIZ Green Innovation Centre Ethiopia have been working together once again – this time on the “Strengthening Entrepreneurship Competences” project. It focuses on five organisations that have received a mobile seed cleaning system: three seed production cooperatives and an agricultural research centre in the Amhara region as well as a cooperative union in Oromia. These partners are receiving intensive accompaniment over a period of one year in order to improve their business skills for the future. The concrete goal is for participants to create their own business plan.
The methodical approach combines various practical elements. Worthy of special mention are the special b|u|s methodology for entrepreneurial training courses, which teaches participants key business skills, and above all the tailored business-planning workshops specifically geared towards seed cleaning.
As AHA has many years of experience in supporting seed cooperatives in Ethiopia, an exchange with this long-standing partner also took place at the end of March 2025. Local trainers chaired discussions between “new” and “old” groups on lessons learned, best and (of course) bad practice and helped to build sustainable networks that will live on beyond the project.
AHA relies on a team of Ethiopian and German trainers who have many years of experience in entrepreneurship, agricultural machinery and seed cooperatives. After several missions, the first business plans are already in place and are very promising!
We thank GIZ for the successful cooperation!
