By Andrew Levenson
Twelve ACN members earned stipends to attend the 2025 IFAJ Congress in Nairobi, Kenya. Here is the report from Andrew Levinson, one of the recipients.
There is nothing quite like traveling around the world and the new perspectives that come from seeing how another person (or entire country) can be so geographically distant, yet so intertwined and similar in nearly every aspect.
The IFAJ Congress in Nairobi, Kenya was no different- showcasing local Kenyan agriculture, food (maybe my trip would have ended on a better note had I not eaten so much ostrich), and providing 11 ACN members, and many others, with new perspectives on how much can be accomplished even while pushing through countless obstacles.
One of the most meaningful experiences on the trip, for me, was our visit to Mkulima Mdogo Seedlings. Lamech Victorious, the founder of the seedling farm, had a story which could inspire a movie – after suffering severe burns, he laid bed-ridden for a year and was inspired to become an agricultural consultant online. After seeing a gap in the seedling market, he got his big break after meeting an agronomist trying to source nearly 10,000 seedlings.
Acting as a middle-man, he was able to negotiate a deal between a family friend and the agronomist, which became the catalyst for his business and success. The pride Victorious had when sharing his story and his farm with attendees was contagious, and I left the tour inspired and motivated.
As a tea and coffee enthusiast, I also thoroughly enjoyed the Kenyan tea farm in which we were able to get a start-to-finish tour of tea processing. It’s incredible the amount of effort and leaves that go into a simple bag of ground tea, and this tour gave me a renewed appreciation for how many inputs, time and people go into such simple things we consume on a daily basis. The next time you sip your morning tea, don’t take for granted the amount of work that went into your cup!
Another highlight of the 2025 IFAJ Congress was the new connections and relationships I was able to build with other ACN members. As a relative new-comer to ACN, I was met with open arms and left with many new friends and acquaintances. I can’t wait for future congresses and ACN events to re-connect with those I met.
As someone who is not a journalist, but a marketer, I also appreciated the opportunity to learn and grow in my journalism and photography skills, photos which you can see a sample of below. The opportunity to attend and participate in the IFAJ Congress is one for which I’m very grateful, and I’d encourage anyone interested to participate in coming years.
– Levenson is vice-president and Partner at Root+Beta