Climate transformation by women-led businesses: Meet our first IYBA WE4A loan recipients

In 2025, Goodwell embarked on a new partnership with IYBA WE4A to improve financial access for women leading businesses in sustainable sectors. We’re pleased to announce the first four companies who will receive loans through this initiative: TIBCO (Tanzania), EatFresh (Tanzania), Agriflex (Kenya), Safi Organics (Kenya).

Designed to encourage gender-inclusive growth in climate-aligned businesses, through this joint initiative, Goodwell is focussed on entrepreneurs in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Sectors of interest include waste management, transport and logistics, construction, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, aquaculture, and eco-tourism, but any businesses contributing to positive environmental outcomes will be considered.

What is the IYBA WE4A program? 

IYBA WE4A stands for Investing in Young Businesses in Africa – Women Entrepreneurship for Africa, a project which is jointly co-financed by the European Union (EU), the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific State (OACPS) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the BMZ-funded multi-donor project Employment Promotion for Women for the Green Transformation in Africa (WE4A). 

IYBA WE4A contributes to increasing the economic participation of women and gender equality. Aligned with Goodwell’s goals to further sustainable, inclusive growth in Africa, this partnership will select 35 business loan recipients in total by the end of 2026. Let’s get to know the first four successful candidates:

TIBCO (Tanzania)

Tanzania International Bee Company (TIBCO) is advancing Tanzania’s honey and bee-products industry through a fully traceable and climate-smart value chain. Established in 2021, the company aggregates raw honey from over 1,200 smallholder beekeepers (45% of whom are women, and 30% youth) who receive modern bee hives, beekeeping training, and guaranteed market access. The company has confirmed offtake contracts totalling 270MT per year (USD 1.17m) with buyers in the Netherlands, Finland, and Kosovo, alongside growing sales to supermarkets and hotels in Tanzania.  

Co-founded in 2021 by Hafsa Mohamed (Executive Director), Paul Musiba (CEO), and Peter Mayunga (Board Chairperson), the business evolved organically from an informal trading agreement between Hafsa and Paul operating as small-scale honey distributors in Dar es Salaam. From inception, TIBCO’s mission has been to create a traceable, inclusive, and sustainable apiculture value chain that connects smallholder beekeepers to premium markets. Our business loan to them will be used to finance raw-honey procurement, quality assurance, and organic certification, enabling increased plant utilisation and entry into higher-margin value-added lines (like beeswax, propolis, and apitherapy). The business demonstrates clear alignment with our partnership’s vision for inclusive, climate-aligned agribusiness, combining commercial scalability with measurable gender, climate, and livelihood impact. 

EatFresh (Tanzania)

EatFresh is a high-growth Tanzanian SME specialising in the sourcing, processing, and export of fresh avocado and crude avocado oil. The company sources from over 2,300 smallholder farmers across five Tanzanian regions and Burundi, and employs over 45 staff (90% of whom are women). Their dual-revenue model adds value to otherwise-wasted avocados by processing them into oil, creating a circular, inclusive and climate-smart supply chain. With a burgeoning client base in India and the EU, EatFresh plans to use this concessional loan to fund working capital and postharvest crates, increasing sourcing efficiency and reducing spoilage, and acting as a catalyst for a larger funding round in the future. 

EatFresh was registered as a limited company in 2013, and is co-owned by husband-and-wife duo, Hadija Jabiri and Chacha Magige. Starting as distributors of beans and peas, then bananas, and now avocados, EatFresh has been committed to sourcing from smallholder farmers in Tanzania since the company’s inception. In the avocado aggregation model it has adopted since 2022, EatFresh supports a climate-aligned, women-led, and export-driven agribusiness, operating at the intersection of inclusive rural economies, food loss reduction, and SME scale-up financing.

 Agriflex (Kenya)

Agriflex is a scalable Kenya-based agricultural input distribution company founded in 2023 by Millicent Okumu and Isaac Nyawira. Having met as colleagues in an agritech company, the two decided to co-found their own climate-smart agricultural input distributor to address market failures through end-to-end supply chain management and farm-level technical training. The loan from the IYBA WE4A-Goodwell partnership will primarily be directed toward working capital support and operational optimisation, including growing Agriflex’s existing infrastructure, to enhance competitiveness in both local and export markets.

The company is woman-led, climate-aligned, commercially grounded, and already showing promise within its market. Agriflex now works with 500 agro-dealers and 30 manufacturers, and has trained 5,000 farmers in correct input application – 1,500 of whom receive direct extension support. Agriflex’s emphasis on climate adaptation and soil health strengthens profitability, enhances dealer loyalty, and is good for farmers’ land and livelihoods.

Safi Organics (Kenya)

Safi Organics is a fast-scaling organic fertiliser manufacturer in Kenya, transforming  

locally available biomass (mainly rice husks), into high-efficiency biochar-based soil amenders and fertilisers. This cost-effective approach is delivering climate-aligned impact  

at scale; it improves soil fertility, reduces reliance on imported synthetic fertilizers, cuts farmers costs, and enables carbon sequestration through biochar incorporation.

Co-founded by Joyce Kamande and Samuel Rigu in 2015 to address rice husk waste, the company has evolved through a decade of research and development. The company plans to use the partnership’s loan to fuel critical capacity expansion, increase its working capital, and position it for regional replication. In clear alignment with the IYBA WE4A-Goodwell partnership, Safi Organics is a prime example of a climate-smart, scalable, impactful African SME.  

Applications open for financial and technical assistance 

These four companies are the first of 35 who will receive financial assistance through Goodwell’s partnership with IYBA WE4A in 2026. 100 applicants (including the 35 receiving financial assistance) will also be offered six months of technical training through our NYUMBA training platform, with a focus on investment readiness. Is your company women-owned and/or -led, and making an impact in the climate transformation space? We’re currently seeking applications from inspiring candidates! Apply now, or share with someone who you think is a good fit:

[LEARN MORE] https://goodwell.nl/iyba-we4a/