agriKOPA

The problem we are working to solve is the lack of access to credit or insurance for smallholder farmers, particularly women and young people, in Kenya and other developing countries. There are over five million smallholder farmers in Kenya alone, and globally, it is estimated that there are over 500 million smallholder farmers who are facing similar challenges. The market potential for Financial Service Providers (FSPs) is significant, but smallholder farmers represent a difficult and risky market.

Smallholder farmers often have no address, unknown coordinates for their farms, and no proof of creditworthiness, which makes it difficult for FSPs to assess their creditworthiness and provide them with financial services. The farmers live in remote areas, making it challenging for FSPs to gather reliable data on their fields and activities. The lack of credit history or agricultural-specific trading records also makes it challenging to assess their creditworthiness accurately.

Current solutions for assessing smallholder farmers' creditworthiness rely on general transaction histories, such as mobile payment transactions like MPESA in Kenya, which do not provide a realistic picture of their agricultural performance. Furthermore, the ability to repay the loans depends on the farmers receiving relevant and actionable advice during the season and selling their crops for a fair price. Confidence can be increased if FSPs could see that the farmers receive and follow good advice throughout the growing season and have reliable access to their end market.

Our solution, agriKOPA, aims to create and validate a novel lending service that utilizes Earth Observation (EO) data and a blockchain-based ledger to create an objective and individually calculated credit recommendation score (CRS) for smallholder farmers. The CRS will give FSPs objective proof of a farmer's creditworthiness and reduce the risks associated with lending to this market.

By leveraging EO-data, supplemented by in-situ measurements, soil analyses, and training in Good Agriculture Practices, we can provide farmers with relevant and actionable advice throughout the growing season, increasing their chances of repaying the loans. The use of a blockchain-based ledger will ensure the CRS's accuracy and provide lenders with greater confidence in their lending decisions.

The lack of access to credit and insurance for smallholder farmers is a significant problem in developing countries, with over 500 million farmers affected globally. The factors contributing to the problem include a lack of credit history or agricultural-specific trading records, remote living areas, and a lack of reliable data on fields and activities. Our solution addresses these factors by providing an accurate and objective CRS based on reliable information and relevant and actionable advice throughout the growing season.

Our solution, agriKOPA, is a lending service that provides financial service providers (FSPs) with an objective and reliable credit recommendation score (CRS) for farmers. The CRS is calculated by merging data from Earth Observation (EO) with a blockchain-based ledger that records the farmers’ trading history. This innovative solution will particularly benefit women and young farmers who are typically underserved and face challenges accessing credit and insurance.

To enable agriKOPA, we will develop the agriLEDGER, a product that allows farmers to create their immutable and transferable ledger, which will contain all details of their agricultural transactions. The agriLEDGER will be built on top of the existing agriWALLET, which farmers already use to store their money. The agriLEDGER, using blockchain technology, ensures that critical transaction information cannot be manipulated.

agriKOPA will utilize EO data products such as field-specific weather conditions, soil and topographical properties, and vegetation index timelines, to provide FSPs with reliable and continuously monitored lending risks. This innovative approach ensures that the creditworthiness of the farmer is objectively evaluated and the FSPs can make efficient lending decisions.

The agriKOPA service will not be sold directly to customers. Instead, the result of farmers, agriBORA hubs, and FSPs using the service described here will be a substantial increase in commission on transaction revenue, which is at the core of agriBORA’s business model.

The target population for our solution is smallholder farmers, particularly women and young people, who face significant challenges in accessing credit and insurance for their agricultural activities. These farmers often live in remote areas, and as a result, they have limited access to financial services and information about good agricultural practices. They also lack reliable data on their farming activities, which makes it difficult for them to prove their creditworthiness to financial service providers (FSPs).

Our solution, agriKOPA, aims to directly and meaningfully improve the lives of these underserved smallholder farmers by providing them with access to credit through a reliable and objective credit recommendation score (CRS) that combines multiple data points from Earth Observation (EO) data with a blockchain-based ledger recording the farmers' trading history. This will help to address the main barrier to credit for smallholder farmers - the lack of reliable data on their farming activities.

By using the CRS, FSPs will have pre-screened and validated farmer data to make efficient lending decisions, which will enable smallholder farmers to access credit to invest in their farms and improve their agricultural practices. With this increased access to credit, smallholder farmers will be able to improve their farming practices, increase productivity, and ultimately increase their incomes.

The solution also includes the agriLEDGER, which will enable farmers to create their own immutable and transferable ledger to record all their agricultural transactions. This will provide a transparent and reliable record of their trading history, which can be used to demonstrate their creditworthiness and help them access credit from other lenders in the future.

Furthermore, agriKOPA will be integrated with the agriBORA platform, which already provides agricultural insights based on EO data to agri-processors. This integration will give farmers access to critical information about weather conditions, soil and topographical properties, and vegetation index timelines, which they can use to make informed decisions about their farming activities and improve their productivity.

Our team has been working with smallholder farmers in Kenya for over eight years, and during that time, we have built strong relationships with the communities we serve. Our founder and management team have a deep understanding of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in the region, including lack of access to credit and insurance. As a result, we have been working closely with farmers to develop and implement solutions that address these challenges.

Our team is representative of the communities we serve, and we have individuals who come from farming families and have firsthand experience with the challenges faced by smallholder farmers. Additionally, we have worked hard to ensure that our team is diverse and includes individuals with a range of backgrounds and experiences, including expertise in finance, technology, and agriculture.

As we develop solutions, we prioritize community engagement and ensure that the design and implementation of our solutions are meaningfully guided by the communities' input, ideas, and agendas. We have established partnerships with local county goverments in Kenya, local organizations and farmer groups to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the community.

One example of our community engagement is our work with local women's groups. We recognize that women farmers face unique challenges in accessing credit and insurance, and we have worked closely with women's groups to develop tailored solutions that address these challenges. By engaging with these groups, we have been able to design solutions that are both effective and culturally appropriate.

In addition to engaging with local organizations and farmer groups, we also conduct extensive research to understand the needs of the communities we serve. This includes gathering data on farming practices, market trends, and the impact of climate change on smallholder farmers. By staying up-to-date on these issues, we are able to design solutions that are both relevant and effective.

Our solution is currently in the pilot phase, and we are working with a group of 500 smallholder farmers in Kenya. Through this pilot, we are testing and refining our solution to ensure it effectively meets the needs of the farmers and the financial service providers (FSPs) who will use it. We believe that this approach allows us to meaningfully engage with the community, understand their needs, and tailor our solution to address their specific challenges.

As we move forward with the pilot, we are committed to working closely with the farmers to gather feedback, evaluate the effectiveness of the solution, and make any necessary adjustments. This collaborative approach ensures that the solution is co-designed with the community and reflects their input, ideas, and agendas.

While our solution is currently in the pilot phase, we are excited about the potential to scale and serve a larger number of smallholder farmers in Kenya and beyond. By leveraging Earth Observation data, blockchain technology, and the agriBORA platform, we believe our solution can help to unlock access to credit and insurance for millions of smallholder farmers, particularly women and youth who are disproportionately underserved.

We are grateful for the opportunity to address some of the barriers we face in the implementation of our solution. As a team, we have identified several challenges that we hope Solve can help us overcome through monetary and non-monetary support.

Firstly, we would appreciate access to leadership coaching and strategic advice from experienced professionals. As a young team with limited experience in scaling solutions, we recognize the value of working with mentors who can offer guidance on how to grow our solution sustainably. We hope that Solve can help us connect with experts who can provide us with the necessary support and mentorship to achieve our goals.

Secondly, after the completion of our pilot phase, we need to develop a solid go-to-market strategy that will enable us to expand our solution to reach more people. This will require additional financial and technical support, as well as partnerships with stakeholders in the agricultural sector. We hope that Solve can connect us with partners who can provide us with the necessary resources and expertise to develop a successful go-to-market strategy.

Thirdly, we recognize the importance of monitoring and evaluation in measuring the impact of our solution. However, we currently lack the resources and expertise to conduct rigorous impact assessments. We hope that Solve can connect us with partners who can provide us with monitoring and evaluation support to ensure that we are accurately measuring the impact of our solution.

Finally, we recognize that regulatory compliance is critical for the success of our solution, and we hope to receive legal support in ensuring that our fintech solutions remain compliant with relevant regulations. We hope that Solve can connect us with legal partners who can provide us with the necessary support to navigate regulatory frameworks in the countries where we operate.