When Jesse Oliange attended MIT’s International Development Design Summit (IDDS) in Arusha in 2014, he was able to hear first-hand from communities about the issues they needed help solving. When he heard from farmers about an abundance of avocados, he remembered the piles of rotting fruit from his childhood and realized he could help those smallholder farmers turn those excess avocados into oil – and profit.

He initially partnered with Twende to leverage their workshops to build his prototypes. Through the services they offered, he had the umbrella he needed to receive grant money, establish office space, gain internet access, and continue refining his machine. In addition to leveraging their workshops, Jesse was able to leverage the relationships he developed through his affiliation with Twende to help evolve his business model.

He initially planned to sell his pressing machine directly to the farmers; however, the farmers were reluctant to make the investment because they didn’t know how to market or sell the oil. Jesse then offered the machines at no cost, allowing the farmers to pay off the investment with the profits from their oil. Inconsistent product and complaints from his customers caused Jesse to rethink his business model again, resulting in the formation of Avomeru Group, Ltd. In 2017. Avomeru establishes cooperatives for the farmers in their villages, allowing them to use their machines and then purchasing the resulting oil. They then perform quality assurance before refining, packing and marketing it to cosmetic companies for use in shampoos and other products.

Today, Avomeru is working to expand the number of farmers in their village cooperatives, as well as expand beyond oil production. They have been able to work with farmers to recover seeds which they then use for fertilizer and to grow seedlings. Helping smallholder farmers in their villages through a zero-waste model is exactly what Jesse had in mind, and he plans to continue innovating and finding new ways to improve the lives of those in the communities around him. You can learn more about Avomeru and their avocado pressing machine by visiting them on Facebook.