Powering entrepreneurs
to end poverty.
iDE Canada creates income and livelihood opportunities in developing countries around the world. We invest in local entrepreneurship, building businesses with a focus on agriculture and sanitation. With access to the right products, services and advice, farmers can transform their small farms into small businesses. With access to research and development, sanitation business owners can produce the life-saving products their customers want.
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Our Initiatives
Innovate for Impact
iDE’s founder, Paul Polak, practiced and preached the importance of starting with people. With your support, local iDE teams use Human Centered Design to engage deeply with the people and communities we serve.
Innovation Fund Projects
Cambodia
| The Paul Polak Innovation Fund
Transform Smallholder Farming
Small-scale farmers grow 80% of the food available in rural areas but often live in poverty. Your support helps farmers increase their incomes by ensuring they have access to markets, high-quality seed and affordable irrigation.
Agricultural Projects
ETHIOPIA
| Agriculture resilience and dignity
NEPAL
| Dealing with new pests
Stop Diarrhea
Diarrhea kills over half a million under-5 children every year – more than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV combined. Diarrhea deprives many millions of children of the nutrients they need to reach their full physical and mental potential.
Sanitation Projects
GHANA
| Selling toilets to poor household
See More Projects
Recent News
Onions have layers 🧅 and so does the impact!
Just outside the town of Woliso, Ethiopia, you have to watch your step. The ground is so dry that deep, jagged cracks snake across the fields. Not much grows during the dry season. But look closer. Standing out against the dust are bright green patches of onions. This is the work of a group of
The snack that started a shop
Have you ever eaten kolo? It’s a popular snack in Ethiopia, made from roasted barley and peanuts. The group of 23 women received start-up funds from Her Time to Grow. They used the funds to set up their shop space and stock ingredients. Over the past four years, Her Time to Grow has supported over
She’s like the Goldilocks of entrepreneurs
Meet Patricia. She’s an agriculture expert from Kenya — and a little bit like Goldilocks. In her community, she’s known for creating her own recipe for chicken feed, and making sure farmers can buy the amount they need — not too little, not too much. Juuust right. She also processes chickens to sell, so families
Supporting Her Business, Around the Globe
Back in 2024, iDE excitedly welcomed Support Her Enterprise — aka SHE — into the fold. SHE is a Cambodian organization that specializes in providing business training to female entrepreneurs. Women in Cambodia struggle to access and benefit from business training. There aren’t many networks to connect them, and business training isn’t tailored to their
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Our Partners
iDE Canada creates income and livelihood opportunities in developing countries around the world. We invest in local entrepreneurship, building businesses with a focus on agriculture and sanitation.
We would like to thank the Government of Canada and Manitoba Council for International Cooperation for their generous financial support.
From donkey carts and treadle pumps to solar pumps and smartphone applications, iDE has made it their mission to power a revolution for farmers in some of the world’s most challenging markets. I have seen the incredible impact of new solutions designed with and for small farmers.
Len Penner, iDE Canada Board Chair (2020)
“This change inspired me to share the knowledge and experience I got with other farmers in my community and I will help them to start cultivating improved varieties and vegetables with irrigation during the dry season.”
Beletu Bacha Kimbibit, Ethiopia
Simon Tuuteug’s joy is contagious. His profits this past year have soared and his small farm in Ghana is supporting his family in ways it never has before. He says, “I am very happy to work with iDE – they showed me new ways to farm and now I am seeing the good results.”
Simon Tuuteug, Ghanaian farmer (2015)
“My grandfather started donating to iDE in the early 80s when the organization was just finding its way. We continue to support the organizations that were important to him and we understand why he is so passionate about iDE and the difference it makes.”
Marlon Kuhl, third generation iDE supporter (2018)
Getting involved with iDE in the Sama Sama program in Ghana has been both exciting and satisfying for us. It really feels good to make a difference in the world by helping bring positive changes to families in rural Ghana!
