Meet an entrepreneur: Joseph Garvi

Garvi left school at the age of 15 to become a self-taught software developer, and became simultaneously involved in his parents’ foundation which helps grow desert food trees. In 2014, he was able to co-found Sahara Sahel Foods, a social enterprise that processes and markets the foods of the native trees of the Sahel, where he serves as executive director. Sahara Sahel Foods currently employs 20 people, creates subcontracting work for 400 women, and buys produce from genetically wild, organic plants from a network of 1500 fruit collectors, mainly women, spread out over 70 villages in central and eastern Niger.