From a small rural village in the heart of East Africa, to a standing ovation in the bustle of Johannesburg. This is the successful life path of Everlyne Cherobon, head of Emeden Kenya, an organization which improves the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. In 2011 she was awarded the EMRC-Rabobank Project Incubator Award, receiving a cash prize of $15,000 at the EMRC-UNDP AgriBusiness Forum in Johannesburg for innovative and sustainable agricultural business.

Known more for its long-distance runners than its agriculture, the dry-lands of Kenya are viewed by Cherobon as holding the key to her and her community's future success. "Most parents educate their children with the sole aim of making them get white collar jobs. Very few ever advise their children to go to school, and help create jobs by themselves. In Africa more than 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas and indeed most African economies rely on agriculture. This means, our sole focus should be on developing this key strength. My advice therefore to all aspiring entrepreneurs is to look back in rural Africa and see the opportunities and develop systems to exploit it. There is a lot of unexploited gold in rural Africa."

Cherobon is not alone in viewing her countryside as a golden opportunity to establish sustainable businesses. Suzanne Marie Belemtougri, hailing from Burkina Faso, studied veterinary science at university and initially started working for a private company. She then decided to set up her own company, raising guinea fowl. Her vision and her dynamism have allowed her to grow her business and to be internationally recognized.

"I have started with a dream and it has become a reality. I raise guinea fowl and by 2012 I want to install infrastructure and equipment and increase production from 102,400 to 150,000 guinea fowl. For my five-year plan I envision to increase the infrastructure and equipment and to focus on raising up to 409,600 guinea fowl per year. My ambition is to also offer 120,000 guinea fowl to 2,000 farmers and 2,000 female guinea fowl to 20 young people in addition to infrastructure and equipment. I aim to create 57 to 67 jobs during the five-year project. The overall goal is to ensure an interior and exterior market for Burkina's guinea fowl."

These are just two women who worked hard and had a vision and have achieved and paved important steps for African business people and in particular women. What their stories reflect is the reality that thousands if not millions of people like them across Africa are and will be achieving big dreams from small beginnings.

According to VC4Africa, an online platform for entrepreneurs throughout Africa, if 4 percent of the African population is entrepreneurial (defined by Andrew Mwenda of the Independent) – otherwise a conservative number for a country like Uganda –there are already potentially 384,000 entrepreneurs. That's potentially 384,000 enterprises that provide jobs, afford valuable services and pay taxes. If 16 percent of the population follows as entrepreneurial imitators then there are nearly 1.5 million potential individuals.

"However, due diligence is one of the limiting factors for those interested in investing in Africa. It simply costs too much to find genuine entrepreneurs with a solid business idea and plan - just ask anyone with an SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) fund and they'll tell you how hard it is to find qualified deal flow," explains Ben White, VC4Africa's Founder. As a result, most existing funds seek larger deals and better margins. At the same time, micro-credit is limited in its ability to support high growth businesses beyond subsistence enterprise and leaves most entrepreneurs with potential standing on the sideline.

But the real-life success stories of Suzanne and Everlyne are essential to believe that success is attainable. This is exactly what Maria Odido focused on when she decided to jump into the honey industry in Uganda. "Bee Natural Uganda was set up in 2008 after my initial company Bee Natural Products Ltd. went into receivership. The vision remains the same as the first company I set up: To work with rural producers so that together we produce a world class product and brand that comes from local rural areas that we can all be proud of," said Odido.

So what is the key to creating a sustainable business project in Africa?  Odido has a clear answer to this: "I am a local investor.  For that reason a sustainable business project for me is of high importance.  We understand our communities better, are more in touch with their realities and are able to understand their intricacies.  In understanding a community it is easier to work with them and to gain success not just for the community but for the company as well, and longer-term sustainable growth for our economies in Africa."

The writer is Communications Manager of EMRC – an internationally renowned organization providing a platform for Africa's private and public sector to come together and discuss partnership opportunities - www.emrc.be