Business
New foundation seed company for S.S.Africa taps ex-Syngenta executive to head it
Qualibasic Seed Company Ltd, a new seed company that was created to support small and medium sized seed companies in production and maintenance of quality foundation seed has opened its doors.
This follows the appointment of Andy Watt, a former head of Syngenta East and Southern Africa and a seasoned agriculturalist with extensive commercial experience in business management to spearhead its operations as Managing Director.
Until recently, Watt worked as a consultant at Kibeni Agriculture Ltd, an agri-business company based in Nairobi Kenya.
Watt expressed confidence in the new task saying his first order of business will be to build an interdependent relationship with seed companies as its customers and nurture trust and confidence.
Watt’s appointment was announced during the inaugural board meeting held in Nairobi June 12 -13, 2017. The company’s board is chaired by Mclean Sibanda of the Innovation Hub, South Africa.
Mclean has wide experience in start-ups, intellectual property policy and management, technology transfer and commercialization of intellectual property. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).
Other members of the board include Tim Johnson-President, Illinois Foundation Seed Inc, Dr. Mick Mwala-Dean of School of Agriculture, University of Zambia, Lauren Good – seed system lead at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Donald Mavindidze and Caroline Muchiri of AATF.
As earlier Reported, Qualibasic was established in 2017 with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) try to address critical infrastructural, financial and other challenges faced by majority of small and medium seed companies producing foundation seed in Sub Saharan Africa.
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