Patrick Bell Email & Phone Number

Kakamega, Kenya

I lead all innovation and growth strategy, and oversee growth operations (scale operations) for new verticals. In this, I'm overseeing a major initiative to transform our company into an omni-channel business, covering 70% of the farming population in Kenya. Through this work, some key wins have included: - Rural Retail: Leading growth of our innovative "rural retail" business over 120 locations. On track to 3X this business over the next year. - Digital Products: Overseeing 1 Senior Technical Product Manager, and two Product Managers creating smallholder farmer relevant digital products across sales, training, and lending categories. - Digital Innovations: Scaling of our proprietary mobile app and hardware for 3,000+ remote / rural field staff.- Products: Brought 8+ new products to market, including new lending products for small scale farmers - increasing market penetration by ~50%- Farm-to-Export: Leading farm-to-export business incubation, with our first exports of Macadamia nuts in 2021. - Carbon-capture / Reforestation: Launching a new vertical on track to plant 70 million trees over the next 5 years.

Kakamega, Kenya

I led a diverse innovation department with product portfolios that spanning across agriculture, forestry, health, livestock, solar, market access, and new verticals. During this time, I led a revamp of our entire innovation process, leading to a new innovation investment strategy that reduced R&D spend by 40% while simultaneously launching major new product segments. These included; "lifestyle" and home improvement product segments, and health insurance products to over 500k small scale farmers.

Bungoma, Kenya

I led the agricultural products portfolio - focused on agricultural product UX and UAT, aiming to find the most impactful products, practices, and services for smallholder farmers in East Africa. During this role, I lead 5 new agricultural products to market, and brought 4 new agricultural practices into the business at scale. Additionally, I led innovation-process improvement initiatives that reduced time-to-market for agricultural products by 70%+.

Morogoro, Tanzania

I led on initiatives linking agricultural research to market opportunities while also establishing a commercial soil analytical laboratory.

Columbus, Ohio + Morogoro, Tanzania

As a PhD. Researcher, I focused on securing four large international grants for agricultural development and food security research, and conducted research on soil carbon sequestration, climate smart agriculture, and food security. During this time I also provided technical support for several USAID funded initiatives throughout Tanzania.Throughout this time, I managed a comprehensive research program across three remote / rural locations in Tanzania. Results from this research lead to a 45%+ water savings for irrigated rice systems across Tanzania.

Served as a key technical consultant on multiple projects focused on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA).1) Established the African CSA Alliance "practical guidebook" for implementing CSA across Sub-Saharan Africa.• Developed framework for implementing CSA in Sub-Saharan Africa countries• Created key extension guidelines for CSA practices• Established key constraints and socioeconomic niches to guide CSA implementation2) Worked on a team conducting a systematic review of CSA for developing countries. The aim of this work established the definitive baseline for evaluating CSA practices and provided key knowledge gaps for operationalizing CSA globally.

Stillwater, Ok

I lead an international research program focused on agricultural fertilizer-use efficiency. This research lead to identification of 6 phosphorus update and use-efficient wheat cultivars, and identification of the chemical mechanisms they deployed to increase phosphorus uptake. Additionally, I worked with approximately 1K+ students through a highly rated introductory soil science couse.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Agroecology

Master Of Science (M.S.), Soil Chemistry And International Agriculture

B.S., Environmental Science