Sunny Satva: Founder of Vegan Africa Fund

SUNNY Satva is the founder of Vegan Africa Fund, an organisation set up to help African vegan founders access capital and a global network. Sunny believes the most important and exciting sector to invest in now is the vegan product sector and regenerative agriculture in Africa.

Sunny – hello and welcome. Where are you currently?

Spiritually, I’m at a place of peace and alignment, doing what I felt called to do. Mentally, I believe that the world is on its way to embracing compassion and veganism. Physically, while writing this, I’m at a blockchain conference and have been in the United States for the past few months to raise awareness of the vegan community’s needs across Africa.

And what are you up to? Busy?

I feel like I’m always in motion, and love what I do. I’m working to bridge the intersection of vegans, crypto, and Africa to create a more equitable and sustainable future. I’m currently fundraising to invest in high-growth-potential vegan businesses which are African-owned. I’m excited to deploy capital into the future leading vegan brands in Africa to scale their operations. We’re fundraising and distributing equity through our eco-friendly crypto-token “VAF.”

Been vegan long?

I have been vegan for six years! It’s been quite the journey, and like most of us, the only regret I have is that I didn’t go vegan sooner.

What was your motivation for going vegan? and staying vegan?

Wow. It gets emotional for me sometimes, because I went vegan in late 2015 when a partner of mine was diagnosed with cancer. After getting a second and third opinion, we learned about the power of plants in healing disease, so went vegan together. This is when I started eating vegan for health.

I fully embraced veganism for the animal rights aspect in 2017. I was working in a research lab where we performed experiments on kangaroo rats. These beautiful animals were all killed through the experimentation process, and this was eye-opening for me. I’d never been so close to animal testing - and when I left that job, I embraced a vegan lifestyle for ethical and compassionate reasons.

I’m excited to deploy capital into the future leading vegan brands in Africa to scale their operations. We’re fundraising and distributing equity through our eco-friendly crypto-token “VAF."

The Vegan Africa Fund – tell us more.

I spent most of the past two years in Africa, where I made my first angel investments into Vegan Basket, Kenya’s first vegan protein producer located in Kilifi on the Kenya coast. After traveling and networking across Africa, I built a directory of hundreds of vegan businesses in over 25 countries, in target sectors including alternative protein, vegan leather production, eco-packaging, and regenerative agriculture.

For a long time, they [Vegan UG Football Team] were playing in their local community and raising awareness about a vegan lifestyle. When I learned about their mission and work, it inspired me to help increase their capacity to change their community.

I sent out network surveys in early 2021 to gauge the needs of the pan-African vegan community. From vegan entrepreneurs across 12 countries, I learned that they want and are ready to scale their operations but lack the capital necessary to purchase machinery which is necessary to increase production.

I founded the Vegan Africa Fund to help African eco-entrepreneurs with amazing products and companies scale their operations. We want to see high-value products from Africa in the hands of global consumers! 10% of our fund supports impact initiatives to help more people go vegan and preserve the environment. We’re currently fundraising for our first fund, which will allow us to invest at the seed stage in vegan businesses across our target sectors!

Once we close our funding round, my focus will shift from fundraising to deploying capital into the businesses that will be leading Africa in vegan production in the decades to come.

And the Uganda Vegan Football team – amazing!

I love what Kyobe and the Vegan UG Football team do! For a long time, they were playing in their local community and raising awareness about a vegan lifestyle. When I learned about their mission and work, it inspired me to help increase their capacity to change their community.

Thanks to the Vegan Africa Fund’s sponsorship, now they travel to different counties in Uganda on a bi-monthly basis at a minimum to play football while spreading a vegan lifestyle. To help them increase their travel capacity and impact, you can donate here!

What other projects are in mind?

Our focus is investing in vegan businesses with products that can be scaled for global distribution from Africa. I’m excited about vegan leather production, alternative proteins, and other high-value vegan goods. I invested in Vegan Basket in 2021 and am excited to continue working to expand their brand and capacity

to get their delicious vegan protein products into more peoples’ hands and mouths.

We also support impact that helps people across the continent go vegan! We loved supporting the VegFest Morocco and hope to support a VegFest Africa in 2022.

The UK vegan community seems to be just about waking up to the idea that veganism is global – what would you like to see especially in regards to Africa from both UK national groups and also grassroots and individuals?

Africa is of course a multi-national and multi-cultural continent, and many of its cultures have deep ties to plant-based lifestyles. Throughout colonialism, indigineous crops were replaced with cash crops, but the plant-based lifestyle continued to thrive in many areas. Now, many communities are working to scale production of incredible vegan products and re-popularize indigenous crops.

We’re calling on the UK and the world to invest in sustainable vegan development in Africa through VAF. Learn more: https:// veganafricafund.com

We are seeing some truly fabulous groups emerging in Africa – Morocco, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda especially – where else is really beginning to boom?

I’m connected to amazing vegan entrepreneurs and communities in Zambia, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa as well. Our focus is mainly on supporting sub-Saharan Africa aside from South Africa. There are so many incredible vegan founders and activists that need global support.

How can we help a bit more here?

A lot of funding entering Africa is not going to African founders, but instead to foreign expansion efforts across the continent. Investing in African founders to support African participation in the growing vegan economy is essential to bridge equity gaps and promote equality.

I would love to see wealth creation from the amazing vegan production across Africa. To learn more about how to get involved, check out our pitch deck and white paper - https://vaf.one

We have to ask – fave vegan food? Very important!

I have to say that I love spicy food - chili, soups, and curries are delicious! I also make a lot of tacos with mushrooms, and I love to cook! Check out https://sunny.vaf.one if you’re interested in buying an e-book copy of my cookbooks.

Hopes for the future?

I am excited about the world becoming increasingly vegan. I hope that we can dismantle some of the harmful narratives about Africa, and uplift African founders who are on a mission to change the world for the better. I also hope to see a realignment in wealth distribution. I believe some of the most pressing issues facing the world - climate change, world hunger, and animal suffering - can be healed with a shift to veganism. I hope to see the world continue moving in this direction.

How can people help VAF best?

If you feel inclined to invest in our mission, join us through

https://VAF.one

Pictured: Sunny Satva