Access to funding can be a big challenge for startups. Many startups have sprung up and died due to lack of funds to keep running. E-Farms is an online Agro-Fintech startup helping to curb this menace in the agricultural sector in Nigeria. The platform supports the financing of smallholder farmers to ensure food security and increase the average cultivation and earnings of farmers. In this interview with Innovation Village, Co- Founder of E-Farms, Divine-Love Akam tells us more about the platform and its mission.
Can we meet the founder of E-Farms?
My name is Divine-Love Akam, an Economist by profession. E-farms started out offline in 2016 to enable us do a pilot test of our idea which was successful for a start; it was early in 2018 that we officially launched online after giving due diligence to business documentations in the previous year.
Can you give us insights into what E-Farms is all about?
E-farms is a fintech online platform that supports the financing of smallholder farmers to ensure food security and increase the average cultivation and earnings of farmers. Owing to the fact that food production in Nigeria is mostly carried out by the over 64 million smallholder farmers who farm on an average of two hectares, there is a great need to ensure that they are able to increase their production base and utilize the abundant arable lands existing in the country. Furthermore, with the increasing youth employment in the country and the move for more youths to engage in agriculture, we also empower and train passionate youths in agribusiness to enable them start and build sustainable agribusinesses.
What motivated you to set up E-Farms?
As a fresh graduate few years, I had the opportunity of starting a small catfish farm business which was solely sponsored by my parents. In the course of the business, the cost of inputs skyrocketed to twice the initial cost I started out with and this was a huge problem against scaling up the business; also, as a result of my having no skills in catfish farming (being an Economist), I encountered huge losses which was very much discouraging. In providing lasting solutions to these problems faced by myself and other young farmers, E-farms was borne.
We have quite a good number of Agro-based online startups in Nigeria, what can you say sets E-Farms apart?
In providing lasting solutions to food insecurity, we provide training and empowerment for youths/graduates interested in agriculture to enable them build sustainable agribusinesses through our network of farmers. Secondly, our investment portfolio is also targeted at low net-worth individuals because we believe that ‘together we can achieve more’.
How does E-Farms work?
E-farms tackles the problems of paucity in funding for agriculture, food insecurity and under-utilization of abundant arable land, increasing youth unemployment, and difficulty in accessing a consistent supply of high quality traceable produce that has bedevilled Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic landscape. By leveraging on pools of investment from farm investors passionate about the agricultural sector, but lacking the skills and time to execute effectively, and making same available to smallholder farmers; and connecting this to buyers of produce, we provide a sustainable solution to these problems. Hence, farm investors are able to participate online from the comfort of their homes or offices and smallholder farmers are reached out to from our end.
What has the traction been like since its launch?
Since the launch early this year, we have successfully grown three different farms, have about seventy farm investors and some repeat customers, trained over a hundred youths in agriculture and engaged over twenty smallholder farmers.
What were the challenges encountered and achievements recorded so far since E-Farms launched?
Of course, start-ups must encounter some challenges in running of the business; for us, our greatest challenge was being able to build trust and integrity with our first clients owing to the fact that it’s an online platform and everyone is aware of some online frauds in Nigeria; but we have been able to overcome that successfully. Secondly, we’ve had the challenge of reaching out to trustworthy farmers because the truth is that not all farmers are truly farmers. On our achievement, emerging as the Winner of the Pitch Agrihack West Africa Competition in 2017 organized by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) was a very great feat for us and has helped us achieve more exposure and successes. Secondly, been able to raise farm investments for our farms amidst trust issues is very encouraging.
What advice do you have for prospective entrepreneurs out there?
As a candid advice to prospective entrepreneurs, the truth is that entrepreneurship is not an easy journey; there are so many challenges that will take away your sleep both in the day and night. As a matter of fact, I usually tell my team that ‘Entrepreneurs don’t sleep’ and that is the truth because you are working both night and day to ensure the smooth running of the business. Secondly, I’ll say that before starting out on any entrepreneurship journey no matter how small, engage in a survey of some related businesses to learn from both their successes and failures – survey here could either be physical or online surveys – this will help you to know what to do and what not to do. Thirdly, true entrepreneurs focus on solving a problem not on the money that can be made – this is very important because if your solution is not providing a lasting solution to a problem, then you won’t scale up and what really scales up a business is the fact that you have continuous customers using your products or services especially repeat customers who can become your ‘free marketer’; and not just a one-time customer who will make use of your product or service and never come back or bring anyone else because the solution doesn’t meet the need. Finally, entrepreneurs must run with a sound vision to avoid been carried away in solving so many problems which might eventually act as a hindrance to your vision.
What are the future plans for E-Farms?
Going forward, we want to reach out to more smallholder farmers in other states, empower more youths through sponsorships and partner with supporting organizations to ensure greater food security in Nigeria.
What do you have to say about the evolving Nigerian start-up ecosystem?
Basically, start-ups in Nigeria are on the rise everyday; both start-ups still at the idea stage and those that have validated their idea. But the Nigerian systems in place make it very difficult and discouraging for start-ups to successfully thrive and this is a major setback to solving some major problems in the country. There exists so many unimaginable ideas in various sectors that if provided with a supportive environment and structure (not necessarily only funding), will scale up across Nigeria. For instance, some start-ups in Nigeria decide to register their businesses outside the country because of the impending setbacks in Nigeria.
