on the ground
We have lived and run businesses across sub-Saharan Africa since 2010.
Our first venture was to design, build and operate commercial-scale fruit processing in the Republic of Malawi, the first of its kind in the country. From an initial programme, purchasing mangoes from smallholders, we built an end-to-end system of farming and processing. With 426 ha of arable land and an 11,600 sq m fruit processing facility, the business employed 700 local people and supported over 5,000 smallholder families.
It met the highest food safety standards in the United States, United Kingdom and EU and achieved some of the best audit results of any farm in the World, under the tough Rainforest Alliance certification scheme. Within four years, the business was supplying product to the largest beverage companies in the region and the World.
Core to our operating model was investment in education, nutrition, and community life, building a deep relationship with our supply chain and future proofing the sustainability of our business.
Building on our successes (and failures) in the Developing World, we have created Longevity, advising, building, investing in and operating food, water and energy trailblazers across sub-Saharan Africa.
Jonny Jacobs
Co-founder
Following more than a decade advising investors on international transactions, Jonny then spent more than eight years building business in one of the world's most challenging business environments. He is now entrenched on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa. Through his career, he has developed a wide and deep network of professional relationships across the private and public sector financial landscape, particularly within the context of developing economies and emerging markets.
Passionate about youth leadership and the role young people play in the creation of progressive enterprise, he is a regular speaker at global and regional policy forums and a writer/media commentator on land tenure, investment protocols, risk management and on the relationship between donors, governments, the investment community and the broader private sector.
Craig Hardie
Co-founder
Craig has over 20 years-experience in strategic marketing, product management and new product development, delivering multiple major new product initiatives within FTSE 100 companies across both B2B and B2C markets. He has been applying this knowledge for over 10 years whilst living and operating in sub-Saharan Africa. During this time, he developed a small profit-making social enterprise, and created Malawi’s first ever commercial-scale multi-million dollar vertically integrated, inclusive fruit processing business. In doing so, he established a deep understanding of the challenges and risks associated with both private enterprise and public-sector programmes in the region.
Passionate about combining commercial success and social development, he is driven by a desire to use his expansive knowledge and experience to help responsible, inclusive enterprises, and donor programmes avoid the many pitfalls associated with the region. By doing so, he believes Longevity Development can play a key role in helping both nation states and commercial organisations deliver against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and enhance their success. More recently Craig has demonstrated his credibility in developing carbon mitigation projects to assist with the sustainable delivery of critical infrastructure.
Nick Leason
Partner
Following a military career as a Royal Navy Officer (half of which was spent within military intelligence), Nick worked for the UK Government before spending several years with the global communications agency, M&C Saatchi. While there, he developed a specialist business unit focussed on the defence, diplomacy and development sector and established agency hubs in Kenya and Pakistan. Prior to joining Longevity Development, Nick supported the Government of Malawi as a Ministerial Special Adviser initially at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and latterly at the Ministry of Health and Population.
A recognised expert in public policy and African regional affairs, Nick has worked with governments, private enterprise and development organisations to deliver a range of major projects across Africa and South East Asia. Most recently this has included a rural water business operating across a number of countries in sub-Sahara Africa.
Edward Campbell-Gray
Partner
Having completed his degree in international development, Edward then spent a 30-year career in the international investment banking industry, specialising in energy, renewable energy and broader infrastructure transactions. During the period, he held Managing Director and/or Global Head of Division positions at BNP Paribas, Investec, Standard Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Edward has a deeply held belief in the power of private enterprise to engender real, transformative change in emerging markets and in the communities which underpin them. This belief is backed up with a deep understanding of innovative solutions such as carbon reduction finance and how this can be used to support capital investment. He brings an unrivalled network and a huge financial and investment pedigree to the partnership that ensures we offer the most relevant advisory support.