Organizational Leadership and Management Training for Liberia Vegetable Seller Association
September 8, 2025Organizational Leadership and Management Training for Liberia Vegetable Seller Association
September 8, 2025Daring To Dream
Estelle Liberty Kemoh
In the 1990s, as war swept through Liberia, a little girl, Estelle Liberty Kemoh, fled with her family to the countryside.
“As we moved around, my dad continued to plant gardens to supplement our diets with potato greens and other vegetables. Life was difficult, but I enjoyed playing with the soil and spending time with my father, planting and nurturing vegetables,” she remembers. Her job was simple, yet critical—carrying water to keep a makeshift farm alive.
“I loved contributing and held it as a badge of honor,” she recalls.
Recalling her travels as a journalist, the founder of Purukpeh built a distinguished media career, rising to become the Director General of the Liberia Broadcasting Service—long before she entered cassava production and processing.
“But as I traveled the country, I began to realize agriculture is the pulse of our nation. And I kept seeing two groups—youth and traditional women—being left behind. I wanted to change that."
After years in media and public service, she recognized a deeper calling—to address food insecurity and create sustainable livelihoods in Liberia's rural communities through cassava transformation.
But getting the business off the ground wasn’t easy—between limited access to capital, poor infrastructure, and market barriers, Ms. Kemoh faced one hurdle after another trying to scale her vision for Purukpeh Agriculture.
Purukpeh’s story changed course in a big way when she met with the GROW-2 Project’s Chief Technical Advisor.
Estelle and staff at Purukpeh in Paynesville
“It was a serendipitous encounter,” she explains.
“After attending the ‘Branding for Profit’ webinar, I reached out for more information and was connected with GROW-2. Their visit to our center opened my eyes to what cassava processing could truly become,” she said proudly.
One major turning point came in March 2024, when GROW-2 invited Purukpeh to the UNIDO-WACOMP 3rd International Cluster Conference in Ghana.
For many in Liberia, working for the government is the dream – to sit behind a desk and wait for the end-of-month envelope. But her experience in Ghana challenged that mindset.
“It opened my eyes,” she said. “I met people with degrees in every subject—yet they were all in agribusiness. No one talked about trying to get a government job. That’s when I understood the potential for real economic transformation in agriculture,” she stated.
With support from GROW-2 and inspiration from grassroots organizations like the United Women Cooperative, Purukpeh Agriculture is prioritizing women and youth.
“We started processing in February 2024,” she said. “The guidance we got from GROW 2—like connecting us to equipment fabricators, or bringing the Liberia Standards Authority to assess our facility—was crucial,” she commented.
After that assessment, she organized a three-day training on sanitation and hygiene and redesigned the layout of her Paynesville processing center.
“We want to grow with GROW-2. They’ve given us a clear trajectory and access to partners who believe in food security. As the saying goes, ‘If a nation can feed itself, it can make wiser decisions
“I learned that the success of Purukpeh will come from consistency,” she added.
Purukpeh’s mission is bold yet simple: produce high-quality, nutritious cassava products while creating meaningful employment. She sells her products—cassava powder and fufu—to local communities and to supermarkets.
“Fishermen often tell me, ‘We’re not big people, but we want to eat good, healthy food.’ That drives me.”
She believes food accesssbility and affordability is critical.
“Cassava or plantain shouldn’t cost more than rice to feed a family. That’s why we work hard to manage costs.”
For this first year, her goal is ambitious: reach 50% of Monrovia’s population with Purukpeh’s products and expand into Grand Bassa and Nimba counties.
“We want to grow with GROW-2. They’ve given us a clear trajectory and access to partners who believe in food security. As the saying goes, ‘If a nation can feed itself, it can make wiser decisions,” she believes.
From radio broadcasts to farm plots, from war-displaced child to agribusiness leader, the woman behind Purukpeh Agriculture is proving that resilience, when rooted in purpose, can grow an entire future.