Young Leader of the Month
Fareeda Bagya Mustapha
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Across Africa, some of the most compelling entrepreneurial ideas are emerging from young people who are choosing to look differently at the challenges around them. For Fareeda Bagya Mustapha, that perspective has translated into an innovative agribusiness focused on turning agricultural waste into value.
Fareeda is the Co-Founder and CEO of PureLube, a Ghanaian agribusiness transforming cashew nut shells into affordable, high-quality lubricants and grease. Through this work, she is demonstrating how agricultural waste can become a resource for industrial innovation, local value creation and sustainable enterprise.
With a background in Agribusiness, Fareeda’s journey extends beyond the traditional understanding of agriculture. Her experience as a young entrepreneur has shaped her interest in business, leadership, innovation and personal development.
In 2024, she co-founded PureLube with a vision to address an often-overlooked challenge within the agricultural value chain: what happens to agricultural by-products that are typically considered waste?
PureLube provides an answer by transforming cashew nut shells into useful industrial products. In doing so, the company is creating a pathway for agricultural waste to be converted into economic value while providing an alternative to imported lubricants.
The idea reflects an important principle for Africa’s emerging entrepreneurs: innovation does not always require creating something from nothing. Sometimes, it begins with recognising the potential in what already exists.
Entrepreneurship has also given Fareeda first-hand experience of the realities of building a business from the ground up.
The long nights, uncertainty, setbacks and small victories have all formed part of her journey. These experiences have strengthened her belief that sustainable success requires more than a good business idea.
It requires the right mindset, discipline, systems and willingness to learn.
Her journey has also demonstrated the potential of young African entrepreneurs when their ideas receive the right support and opportunities.
In 2025, PureLube received the GoGettaz Agripreneur Impact Award, alongside a US$15,000 grant to support the company’s growth. The company also emerged as a winner of the University of Ghana’s 2025 Student Venture Support Programme, receiving GHS 50,000 in seed funding.
These milestones have provided important support for PureLube’s growth while bringing greater recognition to the potential of youth-led innovation within Africa’s agricultural sector.
For Fareeda, entrepreneurship is not only about building a company. It is also about helping other young people build themselves.
She is passionate about supporting students and young entrepreneurs to develop the mindset, discipline and financial awareness required to navigate their own journeys.
Through her platforms, she shares insights and lessons around entrepreneurship and innovation, leadership and mindset, financial literacy, and personal growth.
Her approach is rooted in a simple belief: meaningful growth begins from within.
By openly sharing both the lessons and challenges of her entrepreneurial journey, Fareeda is creating space for other young people to learn from real experiences rather than simply from success stories.
Fareeda’s journey reflects the values at the heart of the Young Global Leaders Network (YGLN): empowering young people to lead, innovate and create meaningful impact within their communities and beyond.
Her work demonstrates the kind of youth-led leadership that moves from ideas to action. By transforming an agricultural by-product into an industrial resource, she is contributing to sustainable enterprise while exploring practical solutions to challenges within Africa’s agricultural value chain.
Her commitment to sharing knowledge with students and young entrepreneurs also aligns with YGLN’s belief in the power of knowledge, relationships and practical opportunities to help young people grow into effective leaders.
Most importantly, Fareeda represents a generation of African young leaders who are not waiting for opportunities to be created for them. They are identifying problems, developing solutions, building businesses and creating opportunities for others.
Her story therefore goes beyond entrepreneurial success. It speaks to the kind of purpose-driven, innovative and opportunity-conscious leadership that YGLN seeks to recognise and amplify through YALS.
Fareeda Bagya Mustapha’s journey represents a broader story about the role young Africans can play in shaping the continent’s future.
From cashew nut shells to industrial lubricants, her work demonstrates how creativity and entrepreneurship can transform overlooked resources into new possibilities.
Her story also reinforces the importance of supporting young innovators with access to knowledge, funding, networks and opportunities to turn ideas into sustainable ventures.
As Africa looks towards a future shaped increasingly by its young population, entrepreneurs like Fareeda are showing what is possible when young people move beyond identifying problems and begin building solutions.
Fareeda’s journey is a reminder that sometimes, the opportunity is already there. The difference lies in having the vision to see it, the courage to pursue it and the discipline to build it.
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