Meet the start-up aiming to unlock opportunities in Africa’s untapped seafood sector

Egypt's Nile Delta is home to a thriving but underutilised shellfish harvest. Sea Gardener estimates that North Africa exports over $1 billion in bivalve shellfish annually to the Global North, yet Egypt, with its competitive cost base, captures none of this value.

Currently, less than 10% of the 20,000 kg of shellfish produced locally makes it to domestic markets, with none reaching global export markets.

"Bivalves are among the most eco-friendly protein sources, outperforming meat and poultry in terms of carbon footprint," said Sea Gardener’s CEO Ahmed El Shami.

"These remarkable shellfish also possess the ability to sequester carbon and remediate polluted waterways, making them a valuable climate-resilient food source.”

In the current value-chain, shellfish have an average seven-day lifespan post-harvest. Owing to limited transport between the coast and Cairo, they are not live or fresh by the time they reach the end consumer.

By using Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) technology, Sea Gardener hopes to extend the short lifespan of bivalves to be able to deliver them live to export markets.

This will dramatically increase the available harvest for trade and consumption while also empowering local communities, particularly women, to participate in the harvesting and seeding process.

“Our model is not an aquaculture model,” El Shami told AgTechNavigator​.

“Our model is a logistics model using tanks, similar to what has happened to the lobster market in terms of commercialising lobsters.”

It is currently building a large aggregating facility in Fayyad, Egypt, to hold between 10 to 15 tonnes of clams. It then plans to have distribution hubs in markets abroad in Dubai and Spain.

But while RAS technology can extend the shelf life of a perishable commodity such as biovalves they typically have high initial capital costs and higher operational costs compared to traditional methods.

“The challenge with RAS with other species is that you input a lot of organic material in terms of feed,” explained El Shami.

“The unique thing about rearing bivalves or holding bivalves in aquaculture systems is that we're producing our own food for them in terms of four strains of microalgae that the filter feeders feed on, and the fact that we can densely hold these clams and tanks gives us a greater ability for economic scale.”

Upfront costs, meanwhile, are not as substantial when compared to the cost of diesel to harvest or to operate the boats that go out to harvest, said El Shami.

“We're able to operate these RAS models at a large scale very effectively, utilising sustainable sources of energy, mainly solar panels, and more efficient pumps to cut the cost of or to be able to scale much more effectively with a lot less electricity.”

The start-up also plans to drive the sector in Egypt by supporting the local communities that subsist on clams. “Essentially, we want to foster the type of market we see in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia,” El Shami said. These countries earn around $1.5 billion from exports. Egypt is the only North African country yet to export.

“Our initiative to try to educate women and incorporate more women into this industry is imperative in terms of making sure that we have more production,” he explained. “We want to be able to provide an economic opportunity for all the constituents, both men and women, in these disenfranchised communities.”

Tapping a potential $1 billion opportunity ​

The company has landed the support of Climate Resilient Africa Fund​ (CRAF) – an impact venture fund backing early-stage Africa start-ups at the nexus of food security, climate change and nature loss – and plans to expand across the GCC, Europe and North America.

“Ahmed Shami, Sea Gardener's founder, has unique skills in the design and operation of RAS, the technology that keeps shellfish alive through the value chain,” explained CRAF’s managing partner Hossam Allam.

“Although Egypt's shellfish production cost base is competitive globally, nobody has used RAS to drive exports from Egypt. Sea Gardener is first to introduce this tech to this geography.

“CRAF backs technologies that build climate resilience into food systems. Sea Gardener creates a set of controlled conditions in which to grow shellfish largely in isolation from climate-driven seawater fluctuations.

“Sea Gardener's ability to scale their infrastructure and deliver continuous, on-demand supply across the multibillion US dollar European and North American shellfish markets will be their primary measure of success.”