Agritech Uses Investment Capital to Support Home-grown Solutions to Africa’s Food Challenges
Farmer utilizing digital tools and machinery to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability.
The investment case for African agritech is easily revealed by applying the same basic due diligence one would use for any potential business venture: look at the problem we’re solving, probe the addressable market, and analyze the potential return. There are many emerging agri-tech companies across the continent that check all the right boxes. They include Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, founder of ColdHubs, which has deployed a network of compact, remotely-managed solar-powered coolers to support produce farmers in rural Nigeria. There’s Jehiel Oliver, founder of HelloTractor, known as the “Uber for tractors” for providing a digital solution to Africa’s dearth of tractors. And there’s also Naledi Magowe and Martin Stimela, co-founders of Brastorne Enterprises, whose apps have provided affordable Internet-based farming services to 1.8 million smallholder producers in poorly connected rural areas.