Bio

Lauren Rosenberg is a researcher, a connector and a curious human being. Lauren thrives in environments where there is no roadmap for getting things done and she is tasked with making the road as she walks it. From the outset of her PhD research journey, she was guided by a firm belief that if she was fortunate enough to be able to register for a PhD, then the objective of her research journey could not simply be to produce a dissertation with results documented and assessed only on paper by academics. This is not where transformative change occurs. In 2014, as part of her PhD fieldwork, with just under $400, she successfully piloted a low-cost, low-tech agricultural extension service for coffee farmers in rural Burundi. To date the program now employs 28 individuals in a permanent, full-time capacity and has trained over 4000 coffee farmers in improved agricultural practices to raise yields and farm productivity. In 2019 she initiated a partnership for Burundi's first coffee loan product for farmers given the need for financial inclusion in the sector. This loan product went live in December 2021 with 95 farmers signing up for it and over USD $100 000 committed. Since 2022, Lauren has worked as a freelance consultant working on various projects primarily in the areas of the African film industry, smallholder farmer finance and inclusive finance for education. Lauren holds a Master of Philosophy in Sustainable Development from Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and a PhD in Public and Development Management from Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and Stellenbosch University.