Seeking partners to pilot and scale off-grid solar drying for post-harvest loss prevention in coastal Kenya — BlueHarvest

BlueHarvest is an early-stage Kenyan venture building shared, off-grid solar drying infrastructure to prevent post-harvest loss among smallholder farmers, fisherfolk and women-led cooperatives on Kenya's coast. We are currently validating demand with self-help groups and cooperatives in Kaembeni, Kilifi County, ahead of a planned first pilot: a mini solar dehydrator on school grounds, timed to the mango season.

We are looking for project partners who can strengthen this work at different stages:

i) Agricultural training partners, who can help design and deliver regenerative agriculture training for the women, and support setting up demonstration and production farms ahead of the drying and processing stage.

ii) Research and technical partners, particularly around solar drying, food processing, quality standards, and monitoring, including potential collaboration with university research groups and student mobility programmes.

iii) Market-access and trade partners interested in sourcing traceable, women-produced dried fruit and agricultural products from Kenya, including baobab and mango, with long-term export potential into Austria and the EU.

iv) Organisations with experience in cooperative or shared-asset business models, who can help us pressure-test and refine our pay-per-batch and subscription approach.

v) Development and impact-focused partners interested in women-led economic empowerment and climate-resilient food systems in East Africa.

As BlueHarvest, we bring an organised, trusted community foundation, 200 women already trained and formally organised into 10 registered self-help groups, direct scientific grounding through ongoing PhD research in water and agricultural systems, and an active Kenya–Austria bridge already in motion.

As a scientist working at the intersection of research and entrepreneurship, Hope Mwanake brings both the rigor to get the evidence right and the drive to build something real from it. We are seeking partners who want to help build and test this model with us, from validation through to a first real pilot.