GSMA Innovation Fund Startups: Lersha

GSMA Innovation Fund start-up Lersha provides digital services to enable smallholder farmers to access farm inputs, hire mechanisation services and receive advice, credit and insurance, It’s a  a one-stop digital service for smallholder farmers.

Smallholder farmers in Ethiopia account for 95% of production, often managing multiple farm enterprises under variable climatic and uncertain socio-economic conditions. Farmers need additional information on the availability and prices of recommended farm inputs, as well as a mechanisation service to optimise short planting windows, receive expected market prices for their produce and on accessing credit services. With help from the GSMA Innovation Fund, Lersha expanded their platform and boosted usage of heir solution among smallholder farmers by promoting agricultural finance and climate-risk insurance.

Lersha is one of the startups supported by the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation, which was launched in 2022. This initiative is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and is supported by the GSMA and its members