“ A tree does not move unless there is wind.”

– Nigerian Proverb.

Since 1991, KickStart has been designing and developing irrigation technologies to reach Africa’s farmers at scale—working relentlessly to improve durability, effectiveness, and affordability. By 2016, we had moved over a million people out of poverty, but this was just a drop in the bucket. We needed to find a way to reach many more—our programs team put KickStart’s engineers to a challenge: build a pump that can sell for half the cost of our least expensive pump.

It was no simple feat. Already working on the smallest cost margins, the team would have to solve the same technological problem with half the materials. After years of discarded prototypes, failed tests, manufacturing errors, and supply chain interruptions, KickStart was ready to introduce this game-changing product to the world – during a global pandemic – finally launching the Starter Pump to the Kenyan market in a virtual event in 2021.

In 2023, we shifted our horizons to the rest of the continent. In a whirlwind continental tour, KickStart’s teams officially launched the Starter Pump to partners, governments, farmers, media, key stakeholders, and private sector players in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Nigeria, and Rwanda. The enthusiasm and reception from these launches have been inspiring as we work to bring about the transformational change possible when the right technology is put in the hands of those who need it the most.

Breaking down old cost barriers catalyzes new points of access - novel financing models, farmer mobilization, partner subsidies, and public-private partnerships—critical for bringing irrigation to scale. We know that the journey toward an Irrigated Africa requires bold vision, unwavering dedication, and cutting-edge technology, and the Starter Pump is a big part of KickStart’s ambitions for growth. By innovating technologies like the Starter Pump, we’re bridging affordability and accessibility to include the least resourced and hardest-to-reach populations—quenching the thirst of arid lands and nurturing the seeds of progress, growth, and resilience.