Holland Greentech is founded by Norbert van der Straaten, after a 15-year career at the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture. Having moved to Kigali, he sees a clear commercial opportunity: combining high-quality horticultural products with practical expertise for African farmers. He partners with William Macharia, who brings extensive experience in developing outgrower schemes and building export farms. Together, they build Holland Greentech into a commercial horticulture company serving farmers and agribusinesses across Africa, starting in Rwanda through a partnership approach: working with local players to bring proven horticultural inputs and knowledge to Rwandan vegetable farmers, and building trust market by market rather than trying to do everything at once.

Scaling across the continent

That pathway takes us from an initial base in Rwanda to ten core operating countries across West and East Africa: Ghana, Benin, Senegal, and Burkina Faso in the west; Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Zambia in the east. South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe are active project markets, and a dedicated international consultancy arm supports projects across the continent.

Growing our partner network

We deepen our relationships with leading global horticultural brands, including Rijk Zwaan, Koppert, Klasmann-Deilmann, Jiffy, Rivulis, and Quinta, plus research and knowledge partners like Wageningen University, TU Delft, and HAS University. Together they give farmers access to genuinely world-class seeds, growing media, biological crop protection, irrigation, and greenhouse technology.

Today: a team across ten-plus countries

Holland Greentech has grown into a team offering an integrated range of seed, irrigation, protected farming, IPM, hydroponic, and consultancy solutions to farmers across the continent, alongside project implementation work with governments, NGOs, and development partners.

Looking ahead: our 2030 ambition

We're targeting a step change in impact by 2030, including roughly 11,000 hectares under climate-smart horticulture (up from 2,700 today), 30,000 farmers trained (up from close to 15,000), and 38,000 jobs created (up from just over 9,000). We plan to get there by continuing to grow the same way we always have: one trusted market at a time.