Recently Agritech startup, Thrive Agric, has been unable to make returns on investments made by some of its subscribers and this has made the subscribers vent their anger on social media.
Launched in 2017 by Ayodeji Arikawe and Uka Eje, Thriveagric provides a platform where investors fund farms with a promise to deliver profitable returns to you while empowering farmers at the same time.
They have been known to promise high rates of return; as high as 20% in 9 months.
In recent times, the company has however not been able to make returns to its subscribers and the subscribers are not very happy about this.
Here are some of the unhappy tweets below:
One of the first investors in Thrive Agric, Ventures Platform, issued a statement on this issue on the 1st of October…
VP’s Stand on Thrive Agric…
A fraction of Thrive Agric users have raised concerns regarding ongoing payment delays from their farm subscriptions.
We at Ventures Platform are aware that some users have been inconvenienced and we are supporting our portfolio company’s leadership team, to establish what has not worked on this occasion and forge ahead with a new plan for operating moving forward.
The company has recently strengthened its senior leadership and finance functions to be better-equipped to confront these issues. Furthermore, this week Thrive Agric has issued out a detailed statement to the affected subscribers that articulates the challenges they have experienced, and also outlines the immediate next steps they will be taking to rectify the situation. We hope that they continue to keep a clear line of communication with all interested parties.
Ventures Platform takes pride in the fact that we provide business support to our portfolio companies at every stage of their journey. We understand the issues Thrive Agric has encountered and we know that they are now taking the necessary steps to repair the situation. Please expect to hear more from them in the very near future.
The next day, October 2, the company issued a statement saying that the recent for the delay in payment of returns is due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thrive Agric Official statement reads:
Dear Thrive Agric subscribers and partners:
By now, you may be aware that payouts for some farm subscriptions are delayed. This is an unfortunate outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent restrictions on physical access to farms and farming markets. Like many other businesses, we were not fully prepared for the impact, and despite the intent upon which this company has been run for the last 3 years, our subscribers now bear the brunt of these challenges with us.
We are issuing this statement to convey three things: First, to once again express our deepest apologies to our subscribers whose payouts are delayed.
Second, to share our plans to resolve this issue.
And third, to reassure you that Thrive Agric remains a viable business that Nigeria needs.
Catching up on the payouts:
Thrive Agric’s primary revenue source is based on a successful harvest (inclusive of crops and poultry).
Therefore, any revenue coming into the business is synchronized with the success of the operation as well as the timing of sales. When a planting season or harvest is lost, like we did this year, we can only hope to earn such lost revenues from subsequent harvests.
In our case, we have previously communicated to subscribers that we would meet our obligations based on overdue payments from off-takers. Some of those payments have come in, but not nearly enough to meet our obligations to subscribers. We hoped they would, but they did not.
Last week, we communicated timelines for repayment to our subscribers of up to 24 months depending on the specifics of their subscriptions.
We expect to payout before the committed due date, but in the past, we have been aggressive in our expectations and not met them. We do not want to continue to disappoint our customers so we have given a timeline that we can more confidently keep.
We are taking steps to beat this timeline, but experience has taught us to be more realistic.
We fully understand our customers’ frustration as the business is in the same position of linking obligations to expected payouts, only to have the schedule change.
We remain committed to our mission to enable agriculture, combat food scarcity, and build local wealth in Nigeria and beyond. We still believe that dream to remain valid, despite the current challenge.
We also remain committed to our subscribers and will pay ALL outstanding subscriptions as quickly as we can.
Uka Eje and Ayo Arikawe
Founders, Thrive Agric
As valid as the reason for the delayed payment is, some people do not buy this. One person on Twitter asked about the role of the insurance Thrive Agric claims it has.
One might also ask that how come some of the other competitors like Farmcrowdy are not experiencing this delay in payments.
In 2018, Thrive Agric was one of the startups that participated in the first Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa class.
Thrive Agric says it has worked with over 100,000 farmers since inception
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