Josephine Katumba promotes food access in South Africa through urban farming and low-cost retail innovation.
South African entrepreneur Josephine Katumba is gaining attention for her efforts to address food insecurity and advance sustainable urban living. As the founder of Biakudia Urban Farming Solutions and co-founder of Gcwalisa, Katumba is creating solutions focusing on key challenges in food access, health, and environmental sustainability.
How it all began
Katumba’s interest in food systems is rooted in her family’s migration story. Shortly before her birth, her parents moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo to South Africa in 1994. In their new environment, access to familiar vegetables was limited. In response, her mother began growing food in their backyard despite residing in an urban area with little arable land. This early exposure to urban farming would later shape her passion for entrepreneurship.
Raised in a business-minded family, Katumba started small-scale ventures from a young age, including selling sweets and running a tailoring business during her university years. She went on to earn a degree in economics and accounting from the University of Johannesburg and participated in entrepreneurial development programmes, including one run by TechnoServe and Citibank. These experiences laid the foundation for her to launch Biakudia in 2019.
Urban farming as a public health response
Biakudia Urban Farming Solutions (BUFS) was established to promote healthier lifestyles and reconnect urban dwellers with food production. The initiative emerged partly in response to a 2019 global health report ranking South Africa among the unhealthiest nations, with diet-related illnesses on the rise. BUFS repurposes small, underutilised urban spaces such as balconies and backyards into productive gardens.
The organisation also includes educational components, teaching sustainable practices and reducing waste. Josephine Katumba and her team collaborate with farming, nutrition, and architecture experts to create context-specific solutions catering to dense urban environments.
Selling a relatively unfamiliar service has presented challenges, particularly in Johannesburg, where space constraints and low awareness of urban farming persist. However, BUFS continues to expand its efforts, with Katumba expressing long-term goals of scaling up to larger agricultural operations.
Innovating to promote food access
In 2022, Josephine Katumba co-founded Gcwalisa with entrepreneur Miles Kubheka. Based in Alexandra township, Gcwalisa aims to make food accessible to low-income consumers. The retail initiative counters the “poverty tax”—a term used to describe how poorer consumers often pay more for basic goods due to bulk pricing and packaging.
Operating from converted shipping containers, Gcwalisa offers a “weigh-and-pay” model. Food and household products are sold in bulk and dispensed into reusable containers, enabling customers to purchase only what they need, sometimes for as little as R5 (approximately $0.27). The model promotes affordability while encouraging a recycling culture and reducing packaging waste.
“Gcwalisa is a very cheap place for people like us who are not working, ” says a customer.
According to the company, more than 100 customers are served daily, and plans are underway to expand to other townships and rural locations. The businesswoman currently serves as Head of Operations at Gcwalisa.
Growing reach and recognition
Josephine Katumba, through Biakudia and Gcwalisa, has drawn recognition for her social and environmental impact activities. In 2022, the World Food Programme named her one of Africa’s Brightest Young Minds, and in 2023, she received the Mercedes-Benz beVisioneers Fellowship. In addition to her entrepreneurial ventures, she serves as Chief of Staff at the Wakanda Food Accelerator, an initiative focused on advancing food systems innovation across the continent.
Katumba’s dual focus on urban agriculture and equitable food distribution continues to evolve as a grassroots and systems-level response to food insecurity. As cities in South Africa and across the continent face increasing pressure from urbanisation and climate change, such models offer replicable approaches for more sustainable and inclusive food access.
