Coaching the next generation: betterSoil at the SCEFAB Founders Lab in Senegal
In October 2025, betterSoil joined the SCEFAB Founders Lab in Senegal to coach 30 young entrepreneurs from Germany, Ethiopia, and Senegal. Together, they explored how circular economy in agriculture and soil health can inspire business ideas that make a real impact.
Empowering entrepreneurs for a better world
In early October 2025, the coastal city of Saint-Louis, Senegal, became a hub of innovation and collaboration. Within the SCEFAB Founders Lab, 30 students from Hochschule Neu-Ulm (Germany), Université Gaston Berger (Senegal), and Bahir Dar University (Ethiopia) came together to explore how soil health and circular economy can be the foundation of future businesses.
Why Senegal? Because it is the local urgency. Agriculture remains a core pillar of Senegal’s economy, accounting for 15-17% of GDP (2023-2024) and employing about 22% of the workforce (2023). Yet northern coastal areas like Saint-Louis face accelerating coastal erosion and soil salinization due to seawater intrusion and delta changes, threatening yields and livelihoods. These are not abstract challenges, they shaped the students’ business ideas throughout the week.
Bridging theory and practice
Throughout the week, scientists and mentors from different disciplines coached the students through intensive, hands-on sessions:
- Business Model Canvas workshops to shape sustainable value propositions.
- Stakeholder mapping to understand influence, collaboration, and real-world constraints.
- Circular business design sessions focused on reusing waste and composting to improve soil quality.
- Earth Observation (EO) for agriculture with Marcin Bielecki (Green Space Center BW), practical demonstrations on how satellite data can monitor soil moisture, vegetation, and salinity risks, empowering farmers to make better decisions.
- Pitch training to communicate their ideas effectively and confidently.
The program combined academic insight with entrepreneurial practice, allowing students to experience the real-world journey from idea to impact.
Turning ideas into impact
The teams developed five business ideas related to soil health and circular agriculture, from compost-based fertilizer startups to digital tools supporting sustainable farm management. At the end of the week, the students pitched their models to a panel of experts.
Four winning business ideas were selected and will be further developed over the coming semester in Senegal and Ethiopia, moving toward pilot implementation. This process illustrates how international collaboration can turn global sustainability challenges into concrete entrepreneurial solutions.
The power of coaching and connection
Coaching played a central role during the week, creating space for reflection, feedback, and growth.
At betterSoil, we believe entrepreneurship in sustainability isn’t just about innovation. It’s about empathy, systems thinking, and a deep connection between people and planet. As Azadeh shared during one of the sessions:
“Your customer isn’t the whole society – but by solving a real problem for someone, you might change the world for many.”
The SCEFAB Founders Lab demonstrates how education, entrepreneurship, and soil science can come together to create sustainable impact. betterSoil is proud to have been part of this journey, nurturing the next generation of change-makers. If we want to build a regenerative economy, we need to start with the ground beneath our feet, and the people ready to transform it.