Ida Solitoke

organization overview

Baobaby’s vision is to eradicate food insecurity in Togo and across Africa, empowering women and building resilient communities. Baobaby is on a mission to end baby hunger and strengthen local female farmers by using their crops to produce affordable, nutritious, and sustainable plant protein baby formulas that are distributed primarily in poor and rural communities. By sourcing drought-resistant crops from female farmers, Baobaby increases their adaptation to climate change while improving their productivity and income.

Personal Bio

Ida Solitoke is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Baobaby, a social startup committed to ending baby malnutrition in Togo. Her journey with Baobaby was inspired by her personal struggles to afford milk-based formulas while lacking sufficient breastmilk to feed her own baby. With Baobaby, Ida harnesses the transformative potential of these female farmers to end baby malnutrition through climate-resilient farming practices and processes that take food from local farms to baby bottles.

In her prior role as the founder of Soligrain, Ida facilitated the creation of 145 smallholder farmers’ cooperatives, strengthening young female farmers, particularly single mothers. Ida also facilitated fair market access for 2,500 female farmers while providing risk-mitigation schemes to improve access to microfinance.

Ida holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and has significant experience driving initiatives that break the cycle of poverty in rural areas. Her accolades include being named Social Agri-Entrepreneur of the Year in Togo in 2022, a 2023 Halcyon House Fellow, and a winner of the 2024 FINCA Ventures Prize in Washington, D.C.