Our SDG Commitment

Smallholder farmers in Rumonge lose significant income to middlemen who buy unbranded oil at rock-bottom prices. Our model is designed to give farmers direct market access and better prices. We are at the early stages of this — building the processing infrastructure that will make it real.

Burundi imports large volumes of cooking oil despite significant local palm cultivation capacity. By working toward more efficient local processing, we aim to reduce this dependence and strengthen the regional food supply chain — starting in Rumonge.

Traditional palm processing places a heavy physical burden on women while excluding them from ownership and income. As we develop our processing model, we are intentionally designing for women's inclusion — as operators, quality officers, and cooperative leaders — not as an afterthought.

Our Smart Hub is designed from the outset to run on solar power — moving away from the wood-fired boiling that drives deforestation across Rumonge. Converting palm shells and fibers into biomass energy is part of the plan, not a future add-on. We have not built it yet, but clean energy is non-negotiable in how we will operate.

Rural youth in Rumonge have few formal economic opportunities. Our processing hub is intended to create skilled employment with real contracts and protections — not informal labor. We are not there yet, but this is a core part of what we are building toward.

Palm oil processing in Rumonge has operated informally for generations. Kayangana is working to change that — introducing mechanized processing, quality standards, and digital traceability into a sector that has never had them. We are laying the foundation now, with a model built to scale.

Our processing model is designed so that nothing from a palm fruit goes to waste — fibers become eco-charcoal, shells become biofuel, and processing water is treated and reused. This circular economy approach is built into the Smart Hub design from day one, even as we work toward having our own facility.

Solar energy and zero-waste processing are central to our hub design — replacing the wood-fired methods that are currently the norm in Rumonge. We commit to a no-deforestation sourcing policy from day one and intend to measure and publicly report avoided emissions as we grow.