Helena Toby

In Juba’s bustling markets, Helena Toby is known as the woman who never lets the vegetable stall run empty. At the same time, in government offices, she is recognized as a Senior Inspector for Agriculture and Food Security at South Sudan’s Ministry of East African Community Affairs. Moving daily between these two worlds, Helena sits at a rare intersection—where policy meets the price of tomatoes, and national food security strategies meet the realities of everyday families.
Since 2015, Helena has been supplying fruits and vegetables to Juba’s urban population, operating her own fresh-produce business in a context marked by recurrent shocks, disrupted supply chains, and fluctuating prices. Her stall provides households with affordable, fresh produce at a time when many families struggle to access nutritious food consistently. She manages the entire chain—from wholesale procurement to final sale—coordinating with suppliers, transporters, and support staff to keep goods flowing even when conditions are challenging.
“When people find fresh food on the market every morning, they may not see the effort behind it,” Helena reflects. “But for me, every delivery is one step toward better food security.”
Helena’s agribusiness is more than a side venture; it is a living laboratory that informs her work in government. As a Senior Inspector, she contributes to the implementation of policies and standards that affect agriculture and food security across South Sudan. Her daily interactions with farmers, vendors, and consumers give her firsthand insight into issues such as price volatility, post-harvest losses, transport bottlenecks, and food safety gaps.
This dual vantage point allows her to raise practical concerns within formal structures, ensuring that regulations and programs are grounded in reality rather than assumptions. She prioritizes effective communication and service delivery, working closely with colleagues to align inspection work, market monitoring, and support to smallholder suppliers.
Helena’s motivation is rooted in seeing how her efforts directly benefit both producers and consumers. She understands the pressure small traders face when deliveries are delayed, when goods spoil due to heat, or when sudden price shifts push fresh food out of reach for low-income families. Through her enterprise, she creates income opportunities for youth who assist with handling, transport, and sales, while maintaining strong relationships with farmers who rely on the Juba market as a vital outlet.
“I see the faces behind every sack of produce—the farmer, the transporter, the mother feeding her children,” she says. “That keeps me committed, even when the work is hard.”
Her leadership style focuses on team synergy and reliability. By coordinating procurement, logistics, and retail as one integrated chain, she ensures that her business operates efficiently and consistently meets customer needs.
Looking ahead, Helena plans to formalize and expand her produce business, strengthening structured linkages between rural farmers and urban markets so that more producers can access stable demand in Juba. She aims to develop longer-term supply relationships, support basic aggregation and cold-chain practices where possible, and improve record-keeping to attract future investment.
From within government, she hopes to use her voice to advocate for better market infrastructure, vendor rights, and improved food safety standards, emphasizing the role of markets as essential services in South Sudan’s recovery and development.
By combining grassroots entrepreneurship with institutional engagement, Helena Toby shows how committed individuals can help build resilient food systems in fragile contexts—one inspection, one delivery, and one market day at a time.