Most conversations about scaling a food business start with the technical: equipment, processes, food safety, supply chains. All essential. But ask anyone who has actually built or grown a company, and they'll tell you the harder challenges usually live somewhere else, in how teams are structured, how leaders make decisions, how culture holds together as a business expands.

That's the territory Katrina Blackwell knows well. And it's the territory she's been helping food businesses across Africa navigate.

"I was initially inspired to volunteer with PFS because I'm a values-driven person," she says. "I've always believed that the work I do should connect to something bigger something that helps enrich the lives of others."

Based in Tennessee and serving as Organizational Change Manager at Ardent Mills, Katrina brings expertise that doesn't always show up in technical project briefs but matters profoundly to the businesses PFS supports, the human side of growth. Helping organizations adapt. Helping leaders make decisions. Helping teams move forward together.

It's the kind of expertise that can be hard to come by, especially for early-stage food entrepreneurs navigating fast-moving change. And Katrina has put it to use across a range of engagements, supporting Powerfine in Zambia as they rethought their staffing structure, working with Souk Farm to review and implement KPIs that translate strategy into day-to-day performance, and mentoring staff at Umoyo, also in Zambia, on the HR challenges that come with growing a team.

Different projects. Different geographies. The same underlying need: helping food businesses build the people-side foundations to grow well.

But ask Katrina what's stayed with her most through the work, and the answer isn't about frameworks or deliverables. It's about the people on the other side of the screen.

"The individuals and organizations PFS connects us with are incredibly resourceful and dedicated. Working alongside them has been impactful, not just professionally, but personally. They make me want to be a better person, a more grateful person, and a more giving person."

That two-way exchange, where the volunteer is changed as much as the volunteered-for, is something Katrina has come to value deeply. It's also what keeps her coming back.

"I value the opportunity to share my expertise, but I also appreciate being stretched into areas I might not otherwise experience. It's a genuine growth opportunity for me professionally, and it's deeply rewarding. It feels good to know I'm contributing expertise that may not otherwise be accessible to PFS partners."

And that's true. Because for many of the food businesses PFS supports, access to specialized expertise, change management, organizational design, leadership development, isn't a given. It's often a gap that can quietly slow down growth, no matter how strong the product or the team. Katrina's contributions help close that gap.

What excites Katrina most is the ripple effect. These businesses aren’t just producing food.

"What excites me most about supporting food businesses across Africa is the broader impact. These entrepreneurs aren't just providing food, they're creating jobs, strengthening local economies, and expanding access in communities where opportunities can be limited. Being even a small part of that is something I don't take lightly."

It's a perspective that captures why the PFS model works. Volunteers like Katrina aren't just solving problems, they're investing in the kind of long-term capacity that lifts whole communities.

"PFS acts as an important bridge," she reflects, "between the people who have expertise to offer and the deserving organizations seeking support."

That bridge is built one volunteer at a time. And Katrina, with her conviction and willingness to keep showing up, is helping make it stronger.

Our Global Volunteer Month spotlight series continues and this week, we're turning the lens on Sean Griswold, Senior Manager at The J.M. Smucker Co., a volunteer whose expertise is quietly making food businesses across Africa stronger.

Some people volunteer out of obligation. Sean volunteers because it just makes sense.

"When the needs of an organization match what you're uniquely equipped to contribute, it creates a powerful opportunity to make a real difference."

For Sean, that match was Partners In Food Solutions. And two years and nine projects later, the fit still feels right.

It's not hard to see why PFS came calling. Sean carries over 15 years of experience across food manufacturing and quality assurance, from the specifics of peanut processing and supplier management to the broader discipline of auditing diverse food production systems. That kind of range is rare. But what makes Sean genuinely valuable isn't just the depth of what he knows. It's what he does with it.

Right now, Sean is juggling not one but two active projects with PFS, and both reflect the same instinct: meet people where they are and leave them better equipped than you found them. One of those projects involves supporting the review and delivery of food safety training, helping client teams move from understanding concepts to actually applying them under real-world conditions. Technically grounded. Practically useful.

And that kind of foundation has a way of multiplying. Strong training rarely stays contained to a single project, it ripples outward, building the kind of capability that shows up again and again long after any one engagement ends.

That ripple effect is something Sean has come to understand intimately through his work with PFS teams across geographies. Collaborating closely with technical leads, he's helped shape resources designed to scale knowledge where it's needed most. And in doing so, he's landed on a truth that many experienced mentors eventually discover: "Some challenges are universal while others are completely unique."

It's that tension, familiar fundamentals meeting unfamiliar contexts, that keeps the work interesting. And honest.

But ask Sean what keeps him coming back, and the answer isn't about systems or frameworks. It's simpler than that.

"The people are what make it so rewarding," he says, "especially the clients who are eager and appreciative of the support."

There's something about that eagerness, the energy of someone who genuinely wants to learn and grow, that's hard to replicate in any other setting. It's what turns a volunteer engagement into something that feels less like giving and more like a two-way exchange.

"It's energizing to connect talented, passionate professionals with solutions that can accelerate their growth."

And that energy, when channeled well, reaches further than any single business. It strengthens supply chains, raises standards, and quietly makes food systems more resilient, one well-trained team at a time.

Because real impact was never just about solving the problem in front of you. It's about leaving people equipped to solve the next one on their own.

Our Global Volunteer Month spotlight series continues and this week, we're turning the lens on Sean Griswold, Senior Manager at The J.M. Smucker Co., a volunteer whose expertise is quietly making food businesses across Africa stronger.

Some people volunteer out of obligation. Sean volunteers because it just makes sense.

"When the needs of an organization match what you're uniquely equipped to contribute, it creates a powerful opportunity to make a real difference."

For Sean, that match was Partners In Food Solutions. And two years and nine projects later, the fit still feels right.

It's not hard to see why PFS came calling. Sean carries over 15 years of experience across food manufacturing and quality assurance, from the specifics of peanut processing and supplier management to the broader discipline of auditing diverse food production systems. That kind of range is rare. But what makes Sean genuinely valuable isn't just the depth of what he knows. It's what he does with it.

Right now, Sean is juggling not one but two active projects with PFS, and both reflect the same instinct: meet people where they are and leave them better equipped than you found them. One of those projects involves supporting the review and delivery of food safety training, helping client teams move from understanding concepts to actually applying them under real-world conditions. Technically grounded. Practically useful.

And that kind of foundation has a way of multiplying. Strong training rarely stays contained to a single project, it ripples outward, building the kind of capability that shows up again and again long after any one engagement ends.

That ripple effect is something Sean has come to understand intimately through his work with PFS teams across geographies. Collaborating closely with technical leads, he's helped shape resources designed to scale knowledge where it's needed most. And in doing so, he's landed on a truth that many experienced mentors eventually discover: "Some challenges are universal while others are completely unique."

It's that tension, familiar fundamentals meeting unfamiliar contexts, that keeps the work interesting. And honest.

But ask Sean what keeps him coming back, and the answer isn't about systems or frameworks. It's simpler than that.

"The people are what make it so rewarding," he says, "especially the clients who are eager and appreciative of the support."

There's something about that eagerness, the energy of someone who genuinely wants to learn and grow, that's hard to replicate in any other setting. It's what turns a volunteer engagement into something that feels less like giving and more like a two-way exchange.

"It's energizing to connect talented, passionate professionals with solutions that can accelerate their growth."

And that energy, when channeled well, reaches further than any single business. It strengthens supply chains, raises standards, and quietly makes food systems more resilient, one well-trained team at a time.

Because real impact was never just about solving the problem in front of you. It's about leaving people equipped to solve the next one on their own.

Oluwatobi Osinuga didn't walk out of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta with all the answers. He walked out with a BSc in Food Science and Technology certificate in hand, a lot of ambition, and the same question that follows most fresh graduates out of the gate, what next?

For Oluwatobi, the answer came through the PFS Apprenticeship Program and a placement at ReelFruit, a Nigerian healthy snack brand that moves fast and demands a lot.

He showed up ready to learn. What he didn't expect was how quickly he'd be called on to actually do things, real things, with real consequences at ReelFruit. Food safety protocols that couldn't afford shortcuts. Personnel dynamics that no textbook quite prepares you for. The behind-the-scenes machinery of running a food processing business, where a decision on the production floor can ripple all the way through to the customer. These weren't classroom exercises. They were Tuesday mornings.

Looking back, Oluwatobi puts it simply: "It was a wonderful experience that improved my knowledge of the food safety management system and gave me an overview of how food businesses work at large. It was incredibly rewarding to be able to identify problems and implement probable solutions that have a ripple effect on the business."

That last part is worth sitting with. Not just learning, but identifying problems, proposing solutions, and watching those solutions actually matter. That's a rare thing to experience early in a career, and it clearly lit something in him.

A career that kept climbing

ReelFruit saw what we saw in Oluwatobi. When his apprenticeship wrapped up, they offered him a full-time role as Quality Assurance Officer. A solid landing for anyone, but for Oluwatobi, it was just the first floor of a building he was clearly going to keep climbing.

Senior Quality Assurance Associate came next. Then Production Operations Lead. And today, he holds the title of Production Manager, sitting right at the centre of everything the company makes and ships.

That's not a slow, comfortable rise. That's someone repeatedly proving they're ready for the next thing before anyone has to ask.

Giving back to the next cohort

Here's the part of the story we love most though. Oluwatobi now supervises PFS apprentices who are placed at ReelFruit.

The same programme that handed him his first real shot is now one he helps run for someone else. He knows what it felt like to walk in green, and he makes sure the apprentices coming through behind him get the same honest, hands-on experience that shaped him.

That's not just career growth. That's character.

We're proud of everything Oluwatobi has built, and we have a feeling this story has plenty more chapters left to go.

What happens when deep expertise meets a genuine desire to make a difference?

For Rita Baeza, the QRC Audits Manager at The Hershey Company, the answer has taken shape through years of quiet, purposeful work, supporting food entrepreneurs across Africa through Partners in Food Solutions.

Based in North Carolina, Rita brings a career spanning nearly every corner of the food industry; bakery, fruits and juice, beverage, tortilla, and now confectionery, along with deep experience in process improvement, Six Sigma, new product development, and product line start-ups. Her credentials speak to the same commitment: she holds a Sensory and Consumer Science Certificate from UC Davis, alongside ASQ certifications in Quality Auditing, Quality Management and Organizational Excellence, Six Sigma Green Belt, and HACCP auditing. But credentials, she'd be the first to say, are only part of the story.

Rita's motivation is straightforward, and she'll tell you so herself: "I love quality and food safety, and I'm inspired by the opportunity to support businesses that may not have access to the same technical resources." It's a simple belief, but one that has translated into something far-reaching.

Volunteering, for Rita, is not a new chapter, it's a thread that runs through who she is. She has given her time and expertise through other organizations, and those experiences reinforced something she already suspected: that even small contributions can start a change. "I want to make a difference and contribute to a good cause," she says. "I have found that even with small contributions, it is possible to start a change and make a positive impact." When she discovered Partners in Food Solutions, the fit felt immediate. "I admire the projects and commitment of Partners in Food Solutions. I am happy to help and contribute to their goals."

Over the course of multiple engagements, Rita has worked alongside business owners and their teams to strengthen food safety systems, sharpen operational processes, and build lasting confidence in how they run their businesses. Her approach isn't about sweeping transformation; it's about practical clarity. The kind of guidance that helps a team understand not just what to do, but why it matters.

Her most recent engagement was with Edmass, a food business based in Ghana, where she worked closely with their team to support the company in strengthening their food safety system. It's the kind of virtual support that PFS volunteers provide every day, but the impact it leaves is anything but ordinary.

What strikes Rita most, across every project, is not what she brings to the table, but what the teams she works with already carry. "The commitment and resilience of the local teams," she says. "Despite limited resources, they are highly motivated to learn and improve." That energy, she notes, is what makes the work feel truly meaningful. Because progress here is never one-sided. Rita brings technical know-how; her client teams bring ownership, drive, and a hunger to grow. Together, something shifts.

And she has seen it shift. "Even small contributions and guidance can have a meaningful impact. It's rewarding to see improvement, to motivate teams, and to support better operations." Those moments of progress, however incremental, ripple outward. Stronger systems mean safer food. Safer food means stronger businesses. Stronger businesses mean more resilient communities.

"Supporting local companies strengthens communities, improves food access, and creates long-term impact," Rita reflects. It's a truth that volunteers like her live out, one project at a time.

Her work is also a natural extension of the values she holds at Hershey, a commitment to quality, integrity, and acting in ways that move others forward. Through PFS, those values don't stay within the walls of a corporation. They travel. They land in a factory in Lagos, a processing unit in Nairobi, or a miller working toward their food safety certification.

That is the quiet power of volunteering, not just giving time, but applying what you know in service of someone else's growth. And trusting, as Rita does, that even the smallest contribution can start something meaningful.