Billy Fish Farm and Agriventures

Billy Fish Farm and Agriventures is a female-led Kenyan agri-SME operating within the fish value chain. Founded in 2019 by Bilhah Awino Akoko, the company operates a fingerlings farm using an open pond system with a capacity of 120,000 fingerlings per month, as well as a fish cage farming operation comprising thirty cages on Lake Victoria with a total capacity of 800,000 fish. Billy Fish Farm works with a network of over 100 smallholder fish farmers to guarantee the supply of high-quality tilapia and fingerlings across its three distribution outlets in Kisumu, Kakamega and Homa Bay counties.  

The entrepreneur 

Bilhah Awino Akoko is the founder and CEO of Billy Fish Farm and Agriventures and holds 100% of the shares. Born and raised in a fish farming community in Siaya County, Kenya, she brings over six years of hands-on experience in fingerling production, cage farming and distribution of fish. Bilhah previously worked as an aquaculture extension officer before establishing Billy Fish Farm. She works full-time in the business, leading strategy, operations and business development. 

Partnership with I&P and Inua Capital 

Billy Fish Farm is supported by I&P FARM, a €4 million program aimed at financing and supporting startups and SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa within the agricultural value chain. The program is backed by Proparco and is implemented and managed by Inua Capital in Uganda and Kenya. 

This partnership will enable the company to: 

• Acquire and install a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) to produce 500,000 fingerlings per month and shorten production cycles by up to 6 weeks 
• Install a solar energy system to power the recirculating aquaculture system 
• Provide working capital to support operations, marketing and branding