Youth-led businesses are growing more than crops—they’re planting hope.
In Robe, Oromia, COOPI supports youth cooperatives tackling food insecurity and unemployment through innovation. Instead of migrating for low-paying work abroad, young people are growing mushrooms, managing beehives, and producing organic fertilizers.
Ayub, a 23-year-old co-op leader, employs five friends in a greenhouse growing oyster mushrooms. “Before this, I planned to go to Libya and then to Europe. Now, I’m feeding my family and hiring my neighbors,” he says.
The cooperatives receive training in agro-processing, finance, and marketing. Their products are sold in local markets, creating sustainable income and reducing migration pressures.
Agritech—especially when youth-led—is proving to be a high-impact investment in Ethiopia’s future.
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“I used to want to leave for Europe. Now I’m growing mushrooms and hiring my friends,”
Ayub, 23