Kenyan entrepreneur Odwour Midigo has won the 2026 Äänit Prize, securing US$96 000 to expand community-led food security and regenerative agriculture work across western Kenya with communities.
Midigo leads the Ndaloh Heritage Organisation, a youth-led initiative working to improve nutrition, strengthen local food systems and increase incomes for smallholder farmers in western Kenya.
The US$96 000 prize will allow the organisation to expand its work with farmers and communities while developing partnerships and exploring how its model can be adapted and scaled into other areas.
Ndaloh Heritage Organisation combines nutrition programmes with regenerative agriculture, climate-smart farming and support for smallholder farmers, particularly women and young people.
Its work includes school nutrition programmes, fortified foods and maternal and child health initiatives designed to tackle malnutrition during the first 1 000 days of a child’s life.
The organisation also provides agricultural training, digital advisory services and improved access to markets, helping farmers increase productivity and income while restoring soil health.
One of its initiatives, Udongo Kwa Maisha, works with schools in Kenya’s Siaya County to establish school gardens and provide meals while teaching families regenerative farming practices.
Produce from the gardens contributes to school meals, while participating families also benefit from food grown through the programme.
For Midigo, winning the Äänit Prize provides an opportunity to increase the scale of work already taking place in communities.
“Winning the Äänit Prize is both inspiring and humbling. I know how competitive the Prize has become, which makes this recognition especially meaningful,” he said.
Midigo said the award represents both recognition of the organisation’s progress and an opportunity to deepen its impact.
The Äänit Prize is presented annually by The Mandela Rhodes Foundation and supports African entrepreneurs developing practical solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges.
Now in its sixth year, the prize is open to Mandela Rhodes and Rhodes Scholars, with up to US$100 000 available to support ventures aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Midigo was selected from four finalists working across food security, agriculture and education.
The other finalists were Zambia’s David Chapoloko, founder of AgreeNect Technologies; Zimbabwe’s Nyasha Mashanda, representing offline AI learning platform VhenekAI; and Nigeria’s Emmanuel Valentine, founder of FARM4US.
Chapoloko’s AgreeNect Technologies provides smallholder farmers with agricultural information through SMS and USSD services in seven local languages, helping farmers improve productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and access markets.
Mashanda’s VhenekAI provides personalised educational support that can operate without reliable internet access. Its two-year pilot has reached 1 000 students across 10 schools.
Valentine’s FARM4US works to unlock underutilised farmland and improve agricultural productivity in Nigeria. The venture has reached 800 farmers, employed 100 young people and regenerated 2 400 hectares of farmland.
While the ventures address different challenges, they share an emphasis on locally developed solutions capable of improving livelihoods and being replicated across African communities.
Mandela Rhodes Foundation CEO Judy Sikuza said the prize reflects the importance of Africans developing solutions grounded in their own experience and understanding of local communities.
For Ndaloh Heritage Organisation, the funding creates an opportunity to move from proven community interventions towards greater scale.
That could mean reaching more smallholder farmers, strengthening household incomes, improving nutrition for children and families and expanding farming practices designed to protect the land communities depend on.
The result is a model where food security, health, farming and economic opportunity are addressed together rather than as separate challenges.
