SUSAN STEPHANOU

Activist, Athlete, Brainstormer, Change Agent, Consultant, Environmentalist, Idea generator, Musician, Philanthropist, Social entrepreneur

Su is a pioneer in the organic industry in Kenya working with small scale organic producers in both rural and urban settings. She has developed a string of mainstream organic markets for these producers enabling them earn premium prices for their products. Her goal is to inspire, train and support the Youth to take up organic agriculture across the country in an attempt to alleviate poverty and contribute to food security and a safer environment. She believes that safe food is a human right and that organic, safe products must be available for everyone, not just for an elite segment of the global population. She was instrumental in starting up the first organic farm in Kibera with the Kibera Youth Reform Group. As the founder of Green Dreams, now a household Brand for top quality organic food products in Kenya she is currently the Managing Director of Food Network East Africa Ltd. A mother of three awesome beautiful kids, she spends her free time pursuing her passions in organic agriculture, music, and various sporting activities last year becoming Kenyas first African woman skydiver. Su is an eternal optimist, passionate about life.

I am passionate about everything, about life, music and sounds, people, nature. I'm passionate in everything I do.

I am developing an audio based agricultural information platform over mobile telephony that will be accessible to small scale land owners in East Africa. This will enable millions of farmers/land owners access to vital information that is currently non accessible and difficult to find. I'm doing this as 1. It is my area of competence and I can do it so must. 2. Mobile telephone penetration in East Africa has reached a point where this is now possible whereas 5 years ago it would have been too early. On this note I think that this is an opportunity for everyone who is able and has expertise in important fields to do the same. Start using mobile telephony in developing countries as an audio educational tool.

Agricultural and agribusiness, business development new venture mentor, Marketing

I'm driven to revolutionize the way we do agriculture in developing countries by addressing some of the 'unseen' and unaddressed bottle necks in the sector. To do this we have to have a very good understanding of small scale farmers and their problems. The fundamental issue is we call everyone who ecks out a living from his land in Africa , a 'farmer'. This in my view is the first mistake. A 'farmer' I believe is a person who must have access to agricultural information without which he is simply a person living off his land. We do not call a man who sits in a vehicle a driver, or a woman who brushes her hair a hairdresser. Farmers must be enabled to build on skills if they are expected to survive, generate an income and produce food for their families and nations. My TED story is about using new technologies to avail vital agri information to 'persons living off the land' all over Africa. The first thing any of us would do if asked to 'farm' would be to look for information.

Cooking! Procrastinating! Dreaming- I dream every night and love it, It's like going to the movies the minute I shut my eyes :) And luckily my dreams are always great and hilarious.