A First External Evaluation of Rootical
In just two years, Rootical has proven itself a pioneering force in Uganda’s agroecology and regenerative agri-food landscape. An independent evaluation commissioned by the Embassy of France in Uganda in 2025 confirmed that Rootical’s Founder Journey has not only exceeded expectations but also laid the foundation for a replicable and investable startup studio model across East Africa.
The external evaluation, led by Pauline Okoth and her team, provides clear evidence of Rootical’s effectiveness, impact, and relevance. It also offers important lessons for strengthening the model further as Rootical prepares to expand to Tanzania and beyond.
This article highlights four achievements from the evaluation and three key improvement areas — a balance of recognition and reflection that demonstrates Rootical’s commitment to continuous learning.
Four Major Highlights
1. Outstanding Reach and Effectiveness
Rootical’s first cohort attracted 775 applicants from across Uganda, demonstrating the strong demand for agroecology-focused entrepreneurship support. Forty participants (48% women, 73% youth) were selected, far exceeding gender and youth targets.
The evaluation noted:
“The high turn up of applicants is attributed to an adjustment in the talent recruitment strategy… Rootical engaged 77 like-minded organizations to help circulate the call for applicants… For a pilot project, this magnitude of support and interest from industry actors and potential founders was also indicative of the relevance of Rootical’s added value in the agribusiness ecosystem in Uganda.”
With similar levels of interest in 2025, this outreach success shows that Rootical has quickly become a trusted name in Uganda’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially among young, purpose-driven founders.
2. Tangible Business Creation and Employment Impact
The evaluation confirmed that Rootical delivered results well beyond training: four startups were co-founded with Rootical (Eden Seeds, Ecologic, Guarding Fresh, Regen Harvests). Additionally, three independent businesses emerged from the program, alongside two startups initiated in-house by Rootical.
This means nine new ventures emerged from a single pilot cohort.
“Intermediate impact from the Founder Journey can be broadly categorised into five outcomes: creation of startup businesses… increased technical capacity… improved employment outcomes… mindset change positively influencing employability… and the emergence of a functional founders’ support network.”
The evaluation documented inspiring personal stories. One participant reflected:
“After the training, I shifted from just piggery and convinced my husband to start an agroecology venture. We acquired land and installed 300 beehives… That came from knowledge and confidence gained during training.”
Another noted:
“My professionalism improved drastically, especially in areas like strategic planning, presentation, and stakeholder engagement. I used to be more reactive in my work, now I approach every task with structure and foresight.”
This demonstrates that Rootical is not just building companies; it is transforming people’s professional trajectories. More on that can be found in this Founder survey article.
Visit to Eden Seeds during the 2025 Cohort Bootcamp
3. Relevance of the Founder Journey
The evaluation praised Rootical’s systemic venture building process for its real-world application. From agroecology principles to steward ownership, human-centred design, and financial planning, new content translated directly into practice.
“Applying customer pain-point analysis helped add new services to our business model… Now I’m constantly asking, ‘What else can we do to address farmers’ challenges?’ That mindset shift came directly from Rootical.”
The evaluators also noted strong continued engagement, with 83% of participants later applying agroecology practices in their jobs or businesses.
This relevance was further validated by participant feedback:
“Honestly, the journey was so interesting and intellectually engaging. Once I saw the curriculum outline, I wanted to keep going.”
4. Building Solid Foundations for Growth
The evaluation concluded that Rootical’s studio model has strong sustainability prospects. By co-founding businesses under steward ownership, Rootical is building a pipeline of ventures designed to plough back returns into the studio.
“The projection is that in five to seven years Rootical can self-finance its core operations without depending on grants.”
This is significant. It means Rootical is moving beyond dependency on donor funding toward an investable, replicable model that can attract long-term capital.
Moreover, participants expressed confidence in their skills and the Rootical community:
“The network has become an important source of advice, motivation, and business linkage.”
Together, these findings underline that Rootical has built not just businesses, but also a community of regenerative entrepreneurs ready to sustain and scale change.
On the road with Ecologic in Kapchorwa, Eastern Uganda.
Three Key Areas for Improvement
The evaluation also identified areas where Rootical can improve, especially as it scales to more cohorts in Uganda and prepares for regional expansion. This feedback has already been taken into account for the ongoing 2025 Cohort.
1. Clarify and communicate the co-founding model
Some participants struggled to fully grasp Rootical’s co-founding and financing model, including valuation of the venture building journey and expectations of financial returns.
The report suggests that this is about the perception of value.
“In the local context there are two dominant approaches to training – paid or free. All-expenses-paid training such as the Founder Journey is considered free. This makes it ‘strange’ to attach a financial value to it... Rootical can increase acceptability of the approach to valuing in-kind support by adopting strategies to make this more palatable for future founders.”
2. Strengthen selection and evaluation criteria
While the competitive funnel design was effective, the criteria for progression between stages was not always clear to participants.
“There were varied perceptions on the evaluation criteria… This created some tension in the process.”
The evaluators recommend making criteria more transparent, quantifiable (attendance, task completion), and positively framed as “inclusion criteria.”
3. Carefully manage co-founder team dynamics
During the bootcamp, teams naturally formed around shared agroecology interests and problem areas (e.g. market access, or seeds and inputs) and stuck together. This often happened without a deeper reflection about: “are we a good match as co-founders?” or “do I see myself building a business with you through the highs and lows of the founder journey?”.
Hence, for future cohorts, Rootical has introduced a more deliberate process around teaming, co-founding and talent, with clear guidance for solo founders, deliberate facilitation of complementary team composition, and ongoing support for managing team dynamics. From the report:
“How to attract, select and nurture talent, and carefully facilitate teaming as well as necessary break-ups, has been hands-down the topic we learnt most about in this pilot cohort,” a Rootical team member stated.
A Strong Case for Continued Investment
The independent evaluation confirms Rootical’s strong performance in its pilot phase: exceeding recruitment targets, building real businesses, equipping entrepreneurial Ugandans with transformative skills, and laying a foundation for long-term financial viability.
At the same time, the report offers clear pathways for further improvement — especially in communicating its innovative co-founding model, refining selection processes, and strengthening its approach to talent and teaming.
For funders and investors, this balance of achievement and reflection signals an organization that is not only impactful but also learning, adapting, and scaling responsibly.
Rootical is now ready to take its Founder Journey model to the next level: building more investable regenerative startups, preparing for replication in Tanzania, and proving that Africa’s youth hold the keys to a regenerative food future.
