The goal of the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) is to make the nutritious indigenous plants that are raised in the home gardens of Africa or that grow in the fields, forests and common lands of the continent even more nutritious than they already are — as well as more productive and resilient. The aim is to improve the diets and livelihoods of the 600 million people who live in rural SubSaharan Africa. Led by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the technical body of the African Union (AU), the young Consortium, founded in 2011, has already achieved great success. It has graduated its first class of African plant-breeding scientists and technicians. It has begun sequencing the genomes of crops on its list of 101 important species. It also has raised significant funding and created an uncommon collaboration of governments, companies, NGOs and scientific bodies to help it reach its goals.