KickStart

KickStart International, co-founded in 1991 by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon as ApproTEC, is a nonprofit social enterprise that designs, manufactures, and distributes highly affordable human- and solar-powered irrigation pumps across sub-Saharan Africa. Its flagship MoneyMaker pump line enables smallholder farmers to irrigate crops year-round, breaking dependence on seasonal rains and dramatically increasing incomes. Operating across 17 countries with a network of 250+ agro-dealers and 350+ development partners, KickStart has helped lift 1.5 million people out of poverty, supported 300,000 farming enterprises, and helped feed 15 million people with fruits and vegetables. The organization's approach combines hardware innovation with market development, training local distributors and leveraging supply chains to reach the estimated 20 million African farming families who can access water on their own land.