The company is part of the pitch programme showcasing investment projects in the green sector at the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit in February in Cape Town.
Interview Summary:
Karpolax co-founder Samuel Muyita explains that growing up among Ugandan farmers inspired the creation of a natural, plant-based technology that slows fruit spoilage without refrigeration. The company produces biodegradable sachets that extend shelf life, helping smallholder farmers reduce losses and increase income. Karpolax aims to scale across Africa, enter global supply chains and attract strategic investors.
Muyita envisions an Africa empowered with technology to cut waste and feed the world sustainably. He stresses the necessity of green entrepreneurship and highlights challenges such as capital, regulation and manufacturing. At Africa’s Green Economy Summit, he seeks partnerships to accelerate climate-smart agriculture.
Q: Thank you for joining us. Please can we start with some background on you, and how Karpolax started.
Greetings to all of you. I’m Samuel Muyita. I’m a Ugandan entrepreneur. I grew up in a farming community where I really witnessed and saw firsthand how farmers lost great percentages of their harvest growing fruit. And this pain was really evident, because this meant that their children couldn’t go to school, there wouldn’t be food on their tables.
And this experience really led me and my co-founder to start Karpolax as a practical solution, it was really built to solve this pain for the farmers. So we began by researching plant-based ways that can enable a slowdown in ripening or spoilage. And over time, we’ve been able to develop a natural technology that extends the shelf life of fruits without the need of refrigeration. So it’s simply a sachet that is dropped in a box of fruits in storage or transportation and it releases these naturally derived plant-based organic compounds in the environment of the fruits, thereby reducing the spoilage or increasing the shelf life.
Q: Why is what Karpolax offers unique?
Number one, Karpolax produces biodegradable sachets, which are infused with naturally derived plant volatile organic compounds, which slow down ripening, suppress microbiome growth and preserve freshness. Now, the uniqueness lies in our solution being number one, primarily organic-derived, chemical-free, low-cost and really cold chain independent, whereby one can use a product without the need of depending on cold chain technologies.
So our product is specifically being used by smallholder farmers and traders who find it quite easy to use a product because of its uniqueness in the fact that they can use it without changing the infrastructure of how they handle their produce day to day.
Q: Where are you looking for growth, and are you looking for investors?
At the moment, we are focused on scaling across Africa and entering global export supply chains. And yes, we are open to strategic investors who not just bring capital but market access and global partnerships.
Q: What is your vision for the agri sector on the continent?
Our vision is an Africa that is no longer exposed to raw losses, meaning that we see that African farmers are empowered with technology, infrastructure and market access so that they can earn more, waste less and feed both their continent and the world sustainably, because agriculture is literally the backbone of Africa, and Africa, I believe, will feed the world in the next 10 years.
Q: How important is green entrepreneurship in your view?
Green entrepreneurship to me is not really not a choice, because it’s a necessity. Africa has a huge responsibility and opportunity to leapfrog industrial paths and build industries that are climate smart, regenerative and inclusive from the start, which means that it’s really not an option that we have not to side with green entrepreneurship. It is a great necessity to build sustainability into the African ecosystem, in agriculture and in the industrial sector at large.
Q: What are the main challenges you have encountered so far?
The main challenges we’ve been facing as a company is the scale of capital as well as the regulatory navigation across multiple countries, which at times makes the process a little bit more tedious. In addition, building manufacturing infrastructure, while maintaining affordability for farmers, has been a challenge because there would be a need for higher capital investment, which means that at times you are tempted to increase the price, which means you may end up with a product that is not affordable. So, these are some of the challenges we’ve encountered so far.
Q: At the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit in February in Cape Town you will be part of the pitch programme. What will be your message?
My message at the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit in February will really be simple: that Africa doesn’t need sympathy. It really needs smart, scalable solutions. I believe, that when we are providing a climate innovation, it must be practical, affordable and profitable, which will enable us support small-holder farmers in Africa with a sustainable product or solution that can lead to the advancement of agriculture and the sustainable development goals at large.
Q: What are your expectations of AGES?
My expectations of the forum are strategic partnerships, investor connections and policy level conversations that I believe will enable accelerate climate and agriculture solutions across borders.
Q: How important is such an event for the continent?
This event is really extremely important because such platforms enable Africa to shift from being seen as a problem to being recognised as a source of solutions and innovation, which I believe is quite important. Most importantly as well, it will enable Africa to be seen as a leader in the green economy and not just be seen as one that seeks to benefit from such an economy. So I see that it will enable Africa to shift from just being perceived and interpreted as having solutions and an innovative backbone to the entire globe.
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