Who would have thought that one of the most powerful ways to strengthen a health system could start with something as simple as a hot, nutritious meal?
For Isabelle Kamariza, the pattern became impossible to ignore while visiting public hospitals in Rwanda. Patients were receiving medical care, yet many still lacked consistent access to nutritious food — something essential to recovery, resilience, and long-term health. It exposed a deeper challenge within the system itself: healthcare could not truly work at its full potential if nutrition remained treated as secondary instead of foundational.
Why nutrition matters for Africa’s health systems
Across Africa, health systems face growing pressure from rising populations, food insecurity, and limited resources. Yet conversations about healthcare often focus on hospitals, medicine, and emergency response while overlooking the systems that help people stay healthy in the first place.
Nutrition is one of those systems.
When people cannot access nutritious food, recovery takes longer, children struggle to learn, and communities become more vulnerable to future health challenges. Building stronger health systems requires investment not only in treatment, but also in the everyday infrastructure that supports healthier lives.
This insight is what shaped the vision behind Solid’Africa.
Becoming a Futuremaker
In 2010, Isabelle founded Solid’Africa to rethink how nutrition is delivered through Rwanda’s public institutions. Rather than creating a short-term feeding program, she focused on building long-term infrastructure that could make nutritious meals a reliable part of healthcare and education systems across the country.
Through Solid’Africa, Isabelle connected smallholder farmers to institutional kitchens through climate-smart supply chains. She helped build high-efficiency centralized kitchens capable of preparing nutrient-dense meals at scale, while also working with public institutions to shape procurement systems, policy frameworks, and long-term investments in nutrition.
This is what Futuremakers is all about — spotlighting African innovators like Isabelle who are building practical, scalable solutions to the continent’s biggest challenges, and shaping a more resilient future for communities across Africa and beyond.
Today, Solid’Africa delivers more than 3 million meals every year, reaching over 120,000 patients annually and providing daily lunches to nearly 15,000 schoolchildren.
A new model for nutrition in Rwanda
Solid’Africa’s impact has gone far beyond meals alone. What started in hospitals eventually expanded into schools and broader government systems.
Isabelle’s work demonstrates what becomes possible when local innovation is supported not as charity, but as a strategic investment in stronger public systems and healthier futures.
In 2023, Solid’Africa secured a Public-Private Partnership with the Government of Rwanda, positioning the organization as a strategic partner helping integrate nutrition into health systems nationwide. In 2024, the model expanded into schools through a partnership with Rwanda’s Ministry of Education, creating pathways for replication across the country.
This is what being a Futuremaker really means.
Isabelle built a system designed to last — one rooted in dignity, partnership, and the belief that stronger health systems begin by meeting people’s most basic needs.
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