Establishing women-led aquaculture businesses in South Africa

About the project

UK-registered Partner: FUTUREFISH Company Limited – Michael Phillips
Africa-registered Partner: South African Network for Women in Fisheries and Aquaculture (SANWFA) – Mathema Makola

The collaboration, and new partnership, between the South African Network for Women in Fisheries and Aquaculture (SANWFA) and FUTUREFISH aims to address challenges of gender equality and social equity and access to safe, healthy and nutritious foods through aquaculture business solutions.

The Travel Grant from Innovate UK KTN enabled partners to visit sites and stakeholders across Limpopo Province, South Africa – SANWFA’s flagship aquaculture initiative. The field trips were used to assess the suitability of waterbodies for women-led aquaculture enterprises, progress plans to begin sustainable production in suitable water bodies and develop scalable business models for the women of SANWFA.

This collaboration is centred on building sustainable business solutions that empower women and youth in aquaculture value chains, efficiently use underutilised waterbodies for sustainable food production and improve accessibility of nutritious food to poorer consumers. The collaboration and lessons learned can be used for wider application within sub-Saharan Africa, with significant potential to benefit tens of thousands of women and their households.