Laura Stanford

Laura Stanford is a Kenyan-based agripreneur and systems thinker driving sustainable food innovation through insect-based solutions. She is the Founder and CEO of Loop Pet Food, a Nairobi-based company producing Africa’s first locally manufactured cat food and a circular pet nutrition brand for East Africa. Under her leadership, Loop converts upcycled ingredients from smallholder farmers, tilapia producers, and breweries into high-quality, natural pet food. As a result, the company reduces waste, strengthens local supply chains, and delivers affordable, sustainable nutrition for cats and dogs.

Previously, Stanford founded The Bug Picture, a pioneering enterprise focused on insects as tools for climate adaptation and resilient food systems. Through proof-of-concept projects, she led initiatives that harvested and processed desert locusts into animal feed, trained farmers in small-scale insect rearing, and promoted insects as a safe way to upcycle aflatoxin-contaminated crops into feed and organic fertilizer. Consequently, her work reframed pests as economic assets and positioned insects within Africa’s emerging protein economy.

In addition, she serves on the advisory board of The Bug Picture and is a board member of Stanford Foundation for Orphans and Rural Development in Uganda. Earlier in her career, she worked in banking, consulting, and travel across South Africa and Uganda, building strong foundations in strategy and project management.

Stanford holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Stellenbosch. Today, she champions circular agriculture models that link environmental stewardship with enterprise development across Africa.