FarmRise Mbuzi was created in response to a persistent challenge: many young people are excluded from agriculture not because opportunity does not exist, but because the models available to them are too fragmented, too informal, and too weakly connected to real markets. Income is often low, risk is high, and the pathway to growth is unclear.

This model is designed to respond differently. By building around productive assets, shared systems, value addition, and market access, FarmRise Mbuzi aims to make agriculture more attractive, more viable, and more financially credible for youth.

FarmRise Mbuzi combines goat production, aggregation, value addition, and market access within one connected enterprise model. It is designed to move beyond informal production and build a more structured pathway to income for youth through shared systems, stronger quality, and market-facing products.

The PoC is testing whether this model can create a more viable and bankable pathway to youth livelihoods by linking production, coordination, value addition, and market opportunity in a stronger overall system.

CVPAfrica operates the micro-dairy component of the model and leads on product development, branding, and market access. The initial focus is on yoghurt and frozen yoghurt, helping build a premium market pathway that strengthens the wider enterprise model.

FarmRise Mbuzi matters because it is testing a different way of thinking about youth livelihoods in agriculture. Instead of asking young people to fit into weak systems, it is working to build a stronger system around them — one that combines enterprise design, productive activity, market logic, and long-term opportunity.

If the model proves successful, it can help demonstrate how agriculture can become a more credible pathway to income and rural wealth creation for youth, while also contributing to stronger local value chains and more resilient economic ecosystems.