A Young African Entrepreneur Invests in Caterpillars to Fight Malnutrition

While the shea tree is known for its nuts, used to produce a butter to which myriad benefits have been attributed (skin and nutritional, in particular), much less is known about the caterpillars that feed on its leaves. And this is precisely what a young man from Burkina Faso has set out to change.

“This insect seems insignificant, and yet it has the highest protein content of all foods in Burkina Faso,” maintains Kahitouo Hien, an agrochemist and founder of FasoPro, a startup that uses shea caterpillars to develop nutritional products. This young man is convinced that the “chitoumou” (shea caterpillar in the Dioula language) can play a key role in combating malnutrition, a scourge that continues to wreak havoc in Burkina Faso.

See full Press Release: http://blogs.worldbank.org/youthink/young-african-entrepreneur-invests-shea-caterpillars-fight-malnutrition