Training a New Generation of African Agripreneurs

Founded in 1985 by Father Godfrey Nzamujo in Porto-Novo, Songhaï Centre pioneered an integrated model where crop, livestock and fish production feed off each other's waste streams, eliminating the need for chemical inputs. Recognized by the United Nations in 2008 as a Regional Centre of Excellence for Africa, the model has been replicated at additional Beninese sites in Kinwedji, Savalou and Parakou, and across other African countries. Each year the flagship 22-hectare Porto-Novo campus hosts roughly 320 trainees in hands-on agricultural entrepreneurship, mentoring them through a master-apprentice approach rather than classroom theory.