Club Mtg: Cedric Nwafor, ROOTS Africa

A passion for agriculture and its people

drives Cedric Nwafor, a social entrepreneur

and public speaker who has organized,

facilitated and spoken at various African

and US events. He is the founder of ROOTS

Africa, a youth-led organization that

combats hunger, poverty, and exclusion by

connecting students and agricultural experts

in the US to farming communities in Africa.

While earning his bachelor's degree, he visited farms in Idaho and Maryland and Rwanda, Liberia,

Cameroon, Ghana, and Uganda to learn different farm life and management approaches. Along the way,

Cedric became an agricultural evangelist, engaging African youth in civic affairs in both cities and rural

communities.

He believes that engaging the young generations in agriculture is vital to the African continent's future and

the socio-economic well-being of its peoples. Cedric previously served as a Managing Partner of the Afrika

Youth Movement, leading its five strategic committees, and as a Mentor and Advocate for Streetwise

Partners, an organization supporting low-income populations.

He was a 2016 nominee for the African Youth in Agriculture Award and commencement speaker at his

graduation from the University of Maryland College of Agriculture Natural Resources with a BA in

Agriculture and Resource Economics focusing on Entrepreneurship. He has co-created and instructed a

Global Agriculture course at UMD and is now managing the university's Agriculture Innovation Program.

Cedric is currently enrolled in a Non-Profit Leadership graduate program in the School of Public Policy. He

is also a Do Good Accelerator Fellow and an Academy for Innovation Fellow. Cedric, born and raised in

Cameroon.