Constant Difa Ayihounoun, a 22-year-old CEO from the Republic of Benin, began his entrepreneurial path at the age of 18 when he founded Africabio, an NGO that promotes sustainable farming methods. In 2018, he investigated the influence of human economic activities on the environment while training at an environmental impact assessments firm.
“My research allowed me to discover that agriculture alone is responsible for more than 25% of global warming, and therefore has a huge negative impact on the environment,” Ayihounoun told Forbes Africa.
Following his studies, he launched Africabio and began offering information to the misinformed actors in the agricultural business. With enormous community support, Ayihounoun chose to pursue entrepreneurship and develop his agricultural awareness initiative. He also enrolled at the University of Abomey, where he studied entrepreneurship and enterprise management, with a focus on the environment and green economy.
He found farmers’ issues, such as inadequate soil fertility, insect management, and low crop yield, while interacting and collaborating with them. This discovery inspired him to found AGRECO Sarl.
“Speaking of the consequence on the soil, we have discovered that one of the main disadvantages of chemical fertilizers is their high content of sulphuric and hydrochloric acids,” Ayihounoun explained.
“These lead to the destruction of microorganisms and trace elements that are present in the soil, thus, the first consequence of the use of chemical fertilizers is the depletion of the soil, which leads to a drop in yield, and the exposure of crops to attacks and diseases,” he added.