“Understanding where your food comes from … and having a better connection to the food around you and the people around you, only good can come of that.”

— Amos Lee song writer and food enthusiast

***Rootical team together with the Founders in Residence cohort 2025 during founders gathering February 2026***

Welcome to the 7th Edition of The Rootical Times, where we spotlight founders, ventures, and communities turning agroecological ideas into tangible impact inside the studio, in the field, and across borders.

As Rootical’s founders grow, so do the ventures and communities around them. This edition highlights how ideas from earlier cohorts are turning into real-world impact, both within Uganda and beyond its borders.

Cohort 1 Ventures: Impact Taking Shape

Beyond the Studio, Cohort 1 founders continued to build, proving that Rootical’s work continues outside structured programs.
For the first time, a portfolio business opened a physical office. Eden Seeds Ltd, led by Luwemba Emmanuel, is building a reliable market for locally adapted indigenous seeds in Central Uganda. The venture has served 1,000 smallholder farmers and generated over $25,000 in seed sales in 2025.
By supplying indigenous seeds, organic fertilizers, and locally sourced biopesticides, Eden Seeds is helping farmers rebuild soil health and reduce dependence on harmful chemicals.

‍ Rootical Time together with Eden seeds at the Eden Seeds new ‍ established office.

Another Cohort 1 venture, Ecologic, continues to expand the access to organic inputs for smallholder farmers through its network of lead farmers, showing that trust and impact can scale together. Guarding Fresh, has been developing its natural fungicide formula further, setting up production, and putting it into the hands of hundreds of farmers.

In-House Ventures

These are businesses started up by Rootical and developed in-house, outside of a cohort process.

1️⃣Regraze led by Jonathan Otule is reimagining livestock farming with solar-powered movable fencing to enable rotational grazing. Field tests with 105 farmers in Lyantonde and Nakasongola reaffirmed key points of interest: healthier pastures, lower feed costs and reduced labor.

2️⃣Water Farmers, led by Elvis Omoit, our studio officer, regenerates degraded landscapes through syntropic agroforestry, solar irrigation-as-a-service, and community market hubs. Their first farmer cluster in Ojama, Soroti, demonstrates that restoring landscapes improves livelihoods.

“Standing with farmers in the field and seeing ideas take shape, that’s where real innovation lives.”
— Jonathan Otule, Co-founder, Regraze

Internal Pitches: Ideas Tested, Futures Shaped

➡️At the culmination of the Systematic Venture Building journey, founders presented their “1 Billion” business ideas to a panel of judges including: Abu Musuuza (Rootical Uganda), Mandela Ivan (Shona Capital), Davis Luboyera (Nordic Impact Funds), and Gloria Jombwe.

➡️Prototypes ranged from intelligent soil-measurement devices, collateral-free transition loans, to plant-based livestock nutrition solutions. Each pitch demonstrated that nurtured ideas can grow into actionable, high-impact ventures.

“The Clare who started Rootical six months ago wouldn’t recognize me today. I think differently, act differently, and see possibilities I never imagined. Rootical didn’t just shape my business, it reshaped me.”
— Akello Clare, Founder

***Rootical team together with the cohort 2023 and 2025 founders during the exhibition at Agricultural week by PELUM***

Building Founders Before Building Ventures: Talent, Coaching, and Teaming

One of Rootical’s most impactful investments has been in founder growth, clarity, and self-leadership, led by Ruth Ndwiga, Talent Manager. Through competency frameworks and individual growth plans, founders are supported to deeply assess themselves, identify critical skill gaps, and intentionally own their development journeys.

⚡Tools such as the Venture Performance Framework covering teaming, economics, strategy, product, and market give founders a clear mirror for both personal and venture progress, embedding accountability from the earliest stages.

⚡ Anchoring this work is the Talent Playbook, a living guide that documents Rootical’s full talent approach, from founder recruitment, onboarding and mindset development to first hires and team management. This ensures that founder support is not ad hoc, but structured, replicable, and scalable across ventures and geographies.

⚡Beyond systems, Rootical’s talent work focuses on the human side of entrepreneurship identity, relationships, well-being and resilience.

⚡Through tools like the Co-Founder Personality Match, and the “Hats We Wear” framework, founders learn how to choose partners wisely, manage role overload, and build healthy collaboration dynamics.

⚡Founder Mindset sessions, HR Bootstrapping sessions, HR Clinics, and the 24-month Teaming Evolution Plan equip founders to navigate failure, risk, wellness, and people management with confidence.

⚡Together, these interventions ensure founders are not only business-ready, but mentally prepared, emotionally supported, and leadership-equipped to build strong cultures, retain talent, and grow ventures where people and not just ideas can thrive.

The Rootical Community

🤝In 2026, the Rootical Community has grown into a vibrant space for food system changemakers. From the debates to monthly Rootical Circles, these spaces create room for challenge, learning, and cross-pollination of ideas.
🤝Within Peer Learning Pods, founders share their skills, resources, and guidance, supporting one another across venture building and other professional fields.
🤝Monthly Rootical Circles connect the community with experts in venture building, founder wellness, finance, and leadership, making the ecosystem both practical and enjoyable.
🤝Who makes up the community? Active founders-in-residence, former cohort founders, aspiring founders, mentors, and potential allies.

“Community is much more than belonging to something; it’s about doing something together that makes belonging matter.”
— Brian Solis

Expanding Horizons: Rootical Tanzania

💡In Morogoro, Tanzania, Rootical officially launched the first replication of its Studio model in partnership with Agriedo Hub, a business development organisation led by agribusinesswoman Hadija Jabiri. After receiving 9 expressions of interest, other key partners also participated in the August 2025 inception meeting:

***Hannes Van Den Eeckhout together with the Rootical team Tanzania***

I Am Organic, Ifakara Innovation Hub, Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement, and Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania. Hadija Jabiri and AGRIEDO Hub now serve as managing and implementing partners, and co-founders, of Rootical Tanzania, marking a major step toward regional replication in 2026.

Leadership Update & Looking Ahead

🧩Furthermore, Rootical Uganda has welcomed Abu Musuuza as the new Managing Director, marking a major milestone in Rootical’s commitment to being fully led, shaped, and owned by Ugandans.

🧩This leadership transition reflects Rootical’s steward-ownership vision — placing long-term decision-making in the hands of those closest to Uganda’s food systems. Abu’s appointment signals a bold step forward as Rootical enters its next phase of growth and impact.

🧩 A two-time successful founder and Ashoka Fellow, Abu brings deep entrepreneurial experience, over a decade of hands-on farming knowledge, and a strong track record of building impactful, scalable ventures, including Village Energy and Flip Africa.

🧩 His leadership strengthens Rootical’s capacity to build investable, regenerative ventures at scale, while enabling co-founder Hannes Van den Eeckhout to focus on strategic partnerships, fundraising, and replicating Rootical’s model in Tanzania and beyond.

***ABU MUSUUZA- Managing Director Rootical Uganda***

Watch Out for What’s Next

✨The 7th edition of The Rootical Times closes the 2025 chapter, but the journey continues. 2026 promises:

Rootical Tanzania officially launches, what does that look like?
Cohort 1 businesses spin out and enter growth phase
More ventures being built in-house, with a particular focus on tree-based business models

Stay tuned for the next Rootical Times where collaboration, learning, and regenerative food systems continue to reshape ecosystems and livelihoods.

The Rootical Times 7th Edition