【Path Being Co., Ltd.】Revitalizing African Farmland: Global South Agricultural Innovation through "Biochar x Carbon Credits"

Self-Introduction and 12 Years of Entrepreneurial Experience in Africa

Hello everyone, I am Atsushi Ito, the representative of Path Being Co., Ltd. Thank you for having me today. We are currently seeking business partnerships with companies involved in agriculture, food procurement, processing, or importing agricultural products in the Global South, particularly in Africa. We are also here to seek new funding for our upcoming projects.

Let me briefly introduce my background. I have been serial-entrepreneuring in Africa for 12 years now. Prior to that, I worked as a consultant at Accenture for eight and a half years. In 2014, I moved to Uganda and launched Uganda's first cash-on-delivery (COD) logistics company covering the entire country, building a robust system out of highly complex local operations. I successfully sold this business to Yamaha Motor in 2020. After spending a year and a half starting another business in India, I founded Path Being to focus on soil health and climate change.

Global Population Explosion and the "Severely Stagnant Soil Health"

Today's presentation centers on food and agriculture. Over the past 150 years, the global population has expanded about eightfold, and it will continue to climb. While chemical fertilizers have supported this immense food demand, they only supply nutrients to crops without caring for the soil itself. Over-reliance on them has caused a massive global crisis.

Today, over 69% of global agricultural land suffers from moderate to severe soil degradation. This issue is particularly acute in the Global South, including Africa and Latin America. Unlike countries like Japan, which have a long history of commercial agriculture and soil improvement, Africa introduced commercial farming after chemical fertilizers were popularized. As a result, there are no traditional customs or public policies geared toward soil health, leaving African soil quality at the bottom tier globally. However, this conversely means that the potential (upside) for soil improvement here is exceptionally high.

The Value and Potential Brought by Biochar (Soil Ameliorant)

This led us to focus on "Biochar." Biochar is a traditional soil conditioner that has been used for centuries, but it has regained global attention over the last 10 to 15 years due to growing concerns over global soil health and the need for carbon sequestration.

Simply put, biochar increases crop yields. Additionally, it enhances the efficiency of chemical fertilizers, allowing farmers to grow crops with less fertilizer input. Biochar also contributes to stabilizing food supply chains. For instance, the global cocoa price surge (increasing sixfold in the past two years) was triggered by bad weather in West Africa, the source of 75% of the world's cocoa. Underneath this weather vulnerability lies severely degraded, fragile soil. By restoring soil health using biochar, we can build agricultural resilience against climate change.

Transition to a Monetization Model Fueled by Carbon Credits

Historically, biochar businesses struggled with monetization. However, the market dynamics have shifted drastically. Today, carbon credits are generated through biochar production and soil application, creating a new, separate revenue stream that makes the business highly profitable and self-sustaining.

While biochar projects are starting in North America, Europe, and Japan backed by subsidies and risk capital, the African and Latin American markets—which need soil restoration the most and offer the highest yield improvements—remain virtually untouched. Over the past 18 months, we visited over 130 demonstration sites in 10 African countries. We have signed MOUs with 12 companies and kicked off pilot projects (PoC) in 4 countries.

The Strength of "Rural Operations" via Local JVs

Our business model is to establish joint ventures (JVs) with local partners in Africa. We supply carbonization equipment to convert local agricultural waste (biomass) into biochar, sell it to local smallholders as a soil conditioner, and measure the sequestered carbon to generate high-quality carbon credits.

People often ask us, "Is it really profitable in Africa?" Based on our actual metrics and current market carbon prices, even a single, small-scale project requiring $200,000 in Capex can yield a 9-year cash return of 11x, with an IRR of 77%. Even under conservative estimates, a 3x return is highly achievable.

The ultimate barrier to entry in this sector is not the technology itself, but the highly complex "rural operations" on the ground in Africa. There are very few players worldwide who can organize and scale these operations. My experience building Uganda's nationwide COD logistics network from scratch and standardizing it with Yamaha Motor is our core competence.

The Ask and Corporate Partnership Opportunities

We are currently raising capital for our next three pipeline projects. The total Capex required is $770,000. Combined with my personal capital and debt, we are seeking $500,000 from external investors (The Ask).

Furthermore, we are looking for corporate partnerships beyond direct investment. For companies importing agricultural goods (cocoa, coffee, etc.) from Africa or Latin America, deploying biochar in your supply chain can secure your crop supply while decarbonizing your Scope 3 emissions. We are already in discussions with major global food manufacturers and trading houses. We look forward to connecting with interested partners. Thank you.

Q&A and Feedback

Commentator (Kubelumori): Thank you for your presentation. This is an excellent business model that simultaneously addresses climate change, rural poverty, and global food security. I have two questions. First, regarding the production of biochar with local farmers, how difficult is the quality control? How do you ensure consistent quality under local conditions? Second, concerning partnerships with Japanese companies, what kind of synergies do you envision for companies that do not directly import agricultural products?

Atsushi Ito: Thank you for your excellent questions.

Regarding your first question on quality control, "biochar" refers broadly to any carbonized organic matter. While high-tech "functional biochar" is researched in advanced nations, we purposely use a "simplified industrial carbonization process" in Africa. Rural Africa lacks stable access to electricity and water, so high-tech facilities simply will not function. We designed a simple process using local biomass that can be operated easily by local villagers while still meeting the rigorous verification standards required to generate carbon credits.

As for your second question on Japanese partnerships, we have spoken with about 200 companies over the past year. An interesting discovery was that even if a parent company operates in a completely unrelated sector (such as automotive or manufacturing), they often have subsidiaries or group companies that import or process agricultural products like cocoa, coffee, or spices. When we present to sustainability or corporate planning divisions, they often introduce us to these internal units. Therefore, we welcome introductions from any company that has agricultural supply chains within their broader group.