Using Solar Drying Innovation to Tackle Food Insecurity in Sudan: The Solar Foods Story with Dr Alaa Salih Hamadto

Episode 196 with Dr Alaa Salih Hamadto, Founder and CEO of Solar Foods, a pioneering Sudanese enterprise transforming food preservation, agriculture, and sustainability across Africa and the Middle East.

Dr Hamadto is an award-winning scientist and social entrepreneur whose company merges traditional solar drying techniques with modern IoT and clean technology to build climate-resilient, community-centred food systems. Through Solar Foods, she has partnered with more than 5000 farmers and supported over 7000 during Sudan’s conflict, empowering local producers while cutting food waste and promoting fair trade agriculture.

A Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Award recipient, Alaa shares her journey from scientist to social innovator, explaining how sustainable agri-tech, indigenous knowledge, and human-centred design can reshape Africa’s food future.

What We Discuss With Alaa

• Alaa’s journey from scientist to founder of Solar Foods and her mission to merge ancient solar drying traditions with modern clean technology.
• How Solar Foods’ IoT-enabled solar dryers are revolutionising food preservation, reducing waste, and empowering smallholder farmers across Sudan.
• Building community resilience and supporting over 7000 farmers during Sudan’s conflict through sustainable, fair trade agricultural practices.
• The impact of the Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Award and how it helped scale Solar Foods’ innovation and visibility across Africa and beyond.
• The intersection of science, entrepreneurship, and women’s leadership in shaping Africa’s food security and climate resilience.

Verto Corner
In this week’s Verto Corner, Tomasz Bilakiewicz, Product Director at Verto, shares how the product team is tackling some of the toughest challenges in cross border payments such as speed, reliability, transparency and foreign exchange management.

He explains how these pain points can be solved creatively, not just for today’s fintech companies, but in ways that can scale as the industry evolves. 

Tomasz also discusses how Verto’s product roadmap adapts to new markets, currencies and regulations, and how emerging technologies are shaping the next generation of solutions.

Access the Strategy Handbook

Did you miss my previous episode where I discuss How Africa Can Unlock $500 Billion in Economic Value Through Smarter Infrastructure Investment? Make sure to check it out!

Connect with Terser:
LinkedIn – Terser Adamu
Instagram – unlockingafrica
Twitter (X) – @TerserAdamu

Connect with Alaa:
LinkedIn – Alaa Salih hamadto and Solar Foods

Discover how Verto’s solutions can help you accept payments, manage expenses, and scale with ease here