Tomer Malchi, the co-founder and CEO of CultivAid, an Israel-based nonprofit focused on agriculture and water use in eastern and southern Africa, has been named this year’s Charles Bronfman Prize laureate, the organization announced today. 

The award recognizes “humanitarian leaders whose innovation, rooted in Jewish values, benefits people globally” and comes with a $100,000 cash prize, which is typically reinvested in the winner’s organization. The award was launched in 2004 by the children of philanthropist Charles Bronfman, who regularly refers to it as “the greatest gift a father could receive.” 

Malchi, 44, launched CultivAid in 2016 alongside Ben Cohen, the organization’s chief technical officer, and Yair Keinan, its chief financial officer. With degrees from Cornell University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s agricultural school, Malchi brought his background in water conservation and agricultural studies to Africa, focusing not on aid projects but on strengthening and stabilizing the local agricultural economy.   

Malchi was selected following a multi-month process that was led by Emily Kane Miller and Avital Ferd, who were named co-executive directors of the prize last year. 

“The last few years have reminded us that we can’t control the world, but we can refuse to be diminished by it. We’re proud to steward a prize that celebrates the breadth and brilliance of Jewish leadership worldwide, particularly right now,” Kane Miller and Ferd said in a statement. “Tomer embodies everything this Prize stands for and is exactly the kind of laureate this moment calls for. We’re honored to have him as the first of our tenure.”

After the announcement, eJewishPhilanthropy spoke with Malchi about his selection, his plans for the future and what philanthropists and for-profit companies should understand about the need to develop Africa’s agricultural markets. 

Judah Ari Gross: So first of all, mazal tov on the award. Tell me a little bit about how it came about. What did the process entail? How did you find out you won? 

Tomer Malchi: Thank you. Thank you. I saw something about the prize sometime in August, and I submitted. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really sure what I was submitting to. But then I was told that I was chosen to be one of the finalists. But still, I didn’t think that I would win. 

And then I got a call sometime in December from the prize. I figured, OK, they’re finally going to say, you know, “Great job, but we’re sorry you didn’t get it.”

And then I got on a call and I see an older man in front of me, and — like Clint Eastwood — he just goes, “Hey, you won.” It was Charles Bronfman, of course.

I was surprised. I was completely unprepared. It’s a great honor. The work that we’ve been doing is something that we put our heart into. And we do the work for the sake of the work. We don’t get a lot of press about our work, we don’t do a lot of media. So to get recognized, especially by someone like Charles Bronfman, it’s a huge honor for me and for the organization. It’s well deserved, I have to say. 

JAG: This award comes with a cash prize, of course. Do you have any specific plans yet for what to do with that? 

TM: Most of it is going into the organizational budget and into the work. The more funding we have, the more work we can do. But we don’t have any particular plans yet. 

JAG: The field of humanitarian aid and international development has been struggling in recent years, both in general, with the cuts to USAID, and within Israel, in light of the past 2 ½ years of war. How has that impacted your work? 

TM: CultivAid works differently from other organizations. Everything we do has to be market-driven. 

Aid often suppresses markets, giving away seeds to farmers. We emphasize selling seedlings, so farmers are kept in mind and made more productive. Aid and development are really two completely separate fields that have been merged into one. 

We’re trying to create a market so that farmers know where they are selling [their produce] before they even plant. It is very different from anything else that we are seeing in the field. We are trying to develop ourselves as an organization alongside the private sector, whether it’s processors, exporters or distribution lines.

The concept here is that we ourselves have to be market-driven. About 20%-30% of our annual funding comes from revenue. We have our farms, our nurseries, our irrigation projects. 

If you look at aid, it is normally done through project-based development. But we don’t plan on leaving where we are. We have our farms, our local teams. The goal is to develop an ecosystem. 

We’re looking at how to integrate the Israeli agriculture system into Africa, [as it already is in Europe]. We don’t see that kind of integration happening in Africa. That’s a big part of what we are working on.

JAG: Within the philanthropy world, there is more and more talk about impact investment. Is that coming into play with your work and with this kind of development work in Africa? 

TM: I don’t think that the Jewish world or the impact investment world is there yet. There’s a lot missing in terms of where impact investment should go. 

So, for instance, in Tanzania, we help produce grapes with farmers to sell to wineries. And wineries are capital-intensive.

We can work with the farmers to create the best grapes. But impact investment needs to look at how to create something like a winery to process different crops, to produce value and to create a stable demand for the product. 

I have not seen much impact investment for agriculture. We would be thrilled to be part of it. 

I would add that impact investment needs to come with ecosystem development. Israel has that ecosystem — you have universities, agricultural research centers, research-and-development centers, all of which are usually supported by philanthropy. And that’s what makes agritech possible.

JAG: Why hasn’t that broken through? Why isn’t that happening in Africa? 

TM: It’s challenging. Israel has a lot of solidarity, with Jewish philanthropic support for Israel. There aren’t too many investors in Tanzania. There are not too many philanthropists coming out of Tanzania. There aren’t too many millionaires and billionaires coming out of Africa. It is happening, but it’s happening at a small scale. 

JAG: But for a country like Israel, which is constantly searching for new markets and new allies, why is it so hard to make the case that it is worthwhile to deepen and expand connections to Africa, especially considering Israel has been doing agricultural projects in Africa practically since the foundation of the state? 

TM: Israel is there, but not enough. Africa is very different, very diverse. Part of what we are trying to do is bring Israeli companies to our R&D farm and demonstrate and validate that the technology works in the local environment. A lot of support is needed to commercialize. You need a local partner, and we can be that local partner. 

Israeli companies need to understand the size of the African economy. It’s enormous. Countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania are going to have economies that are bigger than several European countries. These economies are growing rapidly. Israeli agriculture companies need to understand the opportunity. 

If you look at seeds, Israel has maybe 10, 20 different varieties of [commercial] tomato seeds. Compare that to Tanzania, which has two or three kinds of seeds. There’s not enough research, not enough investment by countries. 

JAG: There are some Jewish and Israeli foundations that do support initiatives in Africa. The Kirsh Foundation, Haim Taib’s foundation — though I think that is more in West Africa — and the Ruderman Foundation come to mind. Are there any other organizations that are involved in this space from Israel or the Jewish world? 

TM: From Israel, not so much. We work with Kirsh, who supports some of our work. We appreciate that a lot. Most of our partners are in the United States and Australia. They’re not necessarily Jewish. There’s definitely a need for more funding across the board. 

We’re able to really show impact. For every farmer we work with, we’re able to increase their yields more than five times, and with it their incomes even more. We connect with markets so we don’t create a glut in the market. Every $100,000 that comes in, we’re able to create — in local revenue — at least $500,000. 

JAG: Presumably, winning this award will also raise your profile. Have you already started seeing increased interest from the Jewish community?  

TM: I hope so. I get your newsletter. I hope more people read about it and contact us. We’ve got people on the ground, about 100 people, most of whom are African. 

My hope is that philanthropists and investors understand that these are long-term, 10-year programs. Something like fruit trees, for instance, which we encourage people to grow. It’s three or four years until the first harvest, and eight years until the maximum harvest. These are long-term investments. 

JAG: What has it been like working from Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks and through 2 ½ years of war with a team that’s mostly in Africa? 

TM: Logistically, it’s been challenging. Flights have been canceled. We’ve had to do a lot more virtually. We’ve had to figure out how to do a lot more based on digital data. 

But there’s a lot of love across Africa toward Israel, which most Israelis are not aware of. I’ve received a lot of messages supporting us, whether it was after Oct. 7 or the most recent conflict. 

I find that there is a lot of unknown love that is coming from Africa. A lot of it comes from the power of the church. 

It’s also important when it comes to tourists. There are a lot of tourists who are waiting to come to Israel from Africa. 

JAG: Thank you again for speaking with me. When’s the ceremony? 

TM: I’m not really sure. In addition to the prize, my wife also gave birth two weeks ago. 

JAG: Wow, so mazal tov again!