Agricultural technology company, ThriveAgric, in collaboration with global nonprofit organisation, Heifer International has launched its AYuTe (Agriculture, Youth and Technology) Project. The initiative which aims to empower 125,000 smallholder farmers with financial inclusion access, further reiterates the company’s mission to build the largest network of profitable farmers across Africa while ensuring food security on the continent.
Over the next twelve months, ThriveAgric and its technical partners will help 125,000 smallholder farmers in eight northern states—Adamawa, Gombe, Yobe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and Bauchi—open bank accounts so they can use debit cards and other financial services. The Project will achieve its goal of winning Heifer International’s biennial Agriculture, Youth, and Technology (AYuTe) Africa Challenge in 2022.
In addition to hiring over 200 young people to carry out this initiative, ThriveAgric will also give 1,000 Point of Sale (POS) devices to chosen Nigerian youngsters to help them grow and supplement their family’s income.
Only 51% of Nigerian citizens use formal financial services, with women consistently being more excluded than men, according to the EFInA Access to Financial Services Survey 2020. The report emphasises that people in Northern Nigeria are substantially more financially excluded than adults in the South of Nigeria, indicating that there are still major inequalities in financial access for some of Nigeria’s most economically excluded communities. Adults in rural areas are much more marginalised than adults in cities, which results in severely restricted access to funding or funding possibilities. Therefore, ThriveAgric will approach this project with a gender perspective to ensure that at least 40% of the targeted beneficiaries, including smallholder farmers, POS operators, and project personnel, are female.
Speaking on the company’s vision behind the AYuTe Project, Ayodeji Arikawe, Co-Founder at ThriveAgric, said: “At ThriveAgric, our driving force has always been to empower smallholder farmers for a dignified livelihood. By connecting smallholder farmers to the formal financial economy, we are positioning them for better access to finance, credit, digital services and introducing them to the formal economy which has numerous other benefits in the long run. We are excited about this initiative we’re undertaking with Heifer International through the AYuTe Africa Challenge, and for the long-term impact of this strategic partnership with VISA towards the creation of job opportunities, financial and social inclusion. Our unwavering commitment to positively impact smallholder farmers and their immediate communities across Africa will become even more evident through this project, as we power towards our goal of developing the largest network of profitable farmers in Africa.”
Last year, ThriveAgric emerged as the West African winners of the annual AYuTe Africa Challenge, receiving a $1m grant prize as reward. Organised by Heifer International, the Agriculture Youth Technology (AYuTe) Challenge was set up to support young entrepreneurs working to scale food security on the continent by developing and deploying affordable tech solutions to impact smallholder farmers. In addition to the cash grants, Heifer International also deploys a team of expert advisers and accomplished business veterans to support AYuTe Africa Champions as they translate this funding into business expansion strategies.
According to the Country Director of Heifer International, Rufus Idris, “Inadequate access to financial services is a key barrier limiting smallholder farmers from improving farming practices, adopting innovation and increasing their production outputs. We are excited about this opportunity to not only invest in ThriveAgric’s solutions but to scale up an agritech innovation that confronts financial inclusion challenges facing smallholder farmers in Nigeria”.
Access to funding remains one of the biggest challenges confronting smallholder farmers in Africa. According to WillAgri, only 10% of farmers have access to credit in rural areas across Sub-Saharan Africa. By facilitating account opening, distribution of bank cards and setting up POS operators in the rural northern communities, ThriveAgric will be increasing access to formal financial services through digital tools thereby driving financial inclusion, a key promoter of access to finance and markets for more smallholder farmers. Key partnerships with companies like Visa to reach the most financially excluded groups, a lot of whom are smallholder farmers, demonstrates how ThriveAgric will be leveraging strategic partnerships to attain the company’s ambition of providing $500 million in credit to 10 million smallholder farmers across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya by 2027.
Commenting on the innovative move, Ayodeji Alabi, Fintech Lead at Visa Inc. West Africa said, “We wish ThriveAgric well with this initiative to onboard over 125,000 farmers on the Financial Inclusion drive in Nigeria. With ThriveAgric as winners of the Visa Everywhere Initiative in 2022, they have our full support in this to facilitate payment solutions towards ensuring that underserved communities are banked.”
The AYuTe Project is yet another step in the right direction for ThriveAgric, as the company accelerates towards its goal of building an Africa that feeds itself.
