Tommaso Menini is the Founder and CEO of African Agency for Arid Resources Limited (Agar Ltd), an award-winning company and the parent of the brand Essenza. He started his work on arid land’s economic development 10 years ago in Karamoja-Uganda and he continued in Kenya through the enhancement of alternative livelihoods such as gum Arabic, resins (Frankincense, Myrrh), aloe and beekeeping. Tommaso founded Agar with the vision to support the empowerment of pastoralist communities in the East African ASAL through the sustainable exploitation of natural forest resources, providing them with market access and professional technical advice on selected value chains. He has been an international panelist for his field experience in climate adaptation finance and the efforts in land restoration in arid lands using drought resistant crops to regenerate degraded lands, Tommaso is a fervent conservationist and from 2019 a FAO consultant.