In May 2024, the GSMA AgriTech programme convened our AgriTech Accelerator cohort members in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire for the latest Field Focus Session (FFS). Seven months after the initial “bootcamp” in Kigali, Rwanda and almost one year since joining the Accelerator, this marked an opportunity for cohort members to re-connect and reflect on the iterative process each organisation had been through.
These convenings also create opportunities to visit innovative agritech organisations in the host countries, helping to inspire and share knowledge across markets, further accelerating the development of the cohorts’ services; in fact, these field visits are one of the most anticipated elements of such events.
FFS are a very important element of the AgriTech Accelerator, with three key objectives:
- Knowledge sharing
- Capacity Building
- Networking with peers and local innovators
To encourage knowledge sharing, we create a safe environment for cohort members to share updates on how they have worked with the GSMA AgriTech team and our UX consultants Bopinc, to iterate their services over the last 6-9months and highlight business challenges they are currently facing.
These cohort share outs also contribute to the capacity building objective by highlighting the reasoning and impact behind certain product iterations, which helps other cohort members identify how they might iterate their own services by adapting these ideas. The GSMA works closely with the cohort to identify and develop tailored solutions that meet their specific needs. Three key common themes arose as challenges across the cohort, comprising fund-raising and investment, product market fit and marketing. Arguably, these are challenges which don’t have a specific, one-off fix, rather the solutions need to evolve as the products, services, companies and markets evolve.
Throughout the week the cohort were able to network with each other and external, local entrepreneurs through a series of field visits and presentations. The field visits in particular were well received by the cohort, not only as it meant getting away from the conference room, but also because of the value gained from seeing the context in which these services are being deployed.
Our first stop was at Jool International who are developing drone technology and associated proprietary software for the integration of advanced predictive analytics to empower farmers, manage risks, and maximise yield. While the demonstrations of both hardware and software were very interesting, it was Jool’s parallel approach to training and job creation which really highlighted the holistic vision of founder Joseph-Olivier Biley. “Through collaboration, innovation and a relentless focus on excellence, we strive to lead the transformation for African agriculture and create a brighter, more prosperous future for all.”
Jool International team and GSMA AgriTech Accelerator cohort representatives outside the new Jool International office in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Photo Credit: M Strickland, GSMA.
Our next visit unsurprisingly took us into the world of cocoa, Côte d’Ivoire’s biggest export crop; which generated USD 3.3 billion in revenue in 2022 according to the OEC. With increasing demand from international buyers for improved traceability, our hosts PUSH walked us through their current initiative to support the digitisation of the cocoa supply chain. This project, with support from the ministry of agriculture to maintain and improve export revenues, approaches the problem from several angles. Co-operative membership/ID cards, issued after farmers are registered, facilitate the sale of farmers’ beans to the co-op, and also serve as bank cards for receiving their crop payments. In addition to the farmer cards, PUSH has developed a traceability solution at the request of the National Cocoa-Coffee Council. This innovative solution, integrated into payment devices, allows for the recording of coffee and cocoa purchase data directly at the farmer level. Moreover, it enables the seamless payment of cocoa revenues directly to the farmer cards using the electronic funds available on these devices.
These digital profiles greatly improve traceability and certification activities, further ensuring farmers receive the correct payments for their efforts. PUSH and their wholly-owned agritech partner ICT4Dev are working with the cocoa board to train co-op leadership and their farmers on using the new technology and how it benefits all of the stakeholders involved. For instance, farmers can be more confident that they are not only getting paid the correct amount, but actually receive payments to their accounts more quickly than traditional cash payments. For the time being, during the roll out phase, farmers are protected from any transaction fees, however as the process moves from rollout into longer term implementation, it will be very interesting to see how PUSH are able to transition into a sustainable commercial business model.
PUSH, ICT4Dev and AgriTech Accelerator cohort visiting a cocoa farm near Abidjan. Photo Credit: Noeïm Photographie.
To round off the week, the GSMA AgriTech team hosted a presentation and networking evening. Guest speakers from the local agritech community joined us to talk about their activities in Côte d’Ivoire before networking with the other attendees in the early evening. Dr Hermann Fumilayo Messan, Country Director of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) kicked-off the session by highlighting the multi-faceted challenges agritechs face in finding the balance between achieving a business model and user journey, which fits the operating environment in which the service is to be used (infrastructure, policy/regulation and capacity/literacy of the target customers). These comments were reinforced by Worlarli Senyo, Ghana Country Manager of Farmerline, who talked the audience through the long (10-year!) journey the company had taken to raising investment. The implication being that just having a good idea isn’t always sufficient; taking the time to analyse how that product idea or service can become a sustainable and scalable solution takes both time and effort; especially in markets where infrastructure and capacity challenges are magnified.
Adapted from Dr Hermann Fumilayo Messan and IFAD.
Yves Komaclo, an Investment Manager at Oikocredit, highlighted their approach to debt and equity investment and how they invest in several financial institutions which in turn support agritechs. One particularly significant issue raised was the narrow margin of opportunity for agritechs seeking equity investment; investors will very likely only back one organisation / use case in a particular market; so do your homework and if they already have a similar organisation in their investment portfolio, your opportunities to raise further equity investment through them, might well be limited. The importance of being clear in how a company differentiates itself from the competition is therefore crucial, so that the company doesn’t “get badged” in the same bucket as others.
Elisa Taiwo, from Advans Cote d’Ivoire, closed out the session by presenting the services and partnerships they are building to provide loans to smallholder farmers. Their unique approach consists of providing input and school fee loans to farmers through replacing the need for collateral, that farmers often don’t have, with a savings deposit amounting to 20% of the loan amount. This approach allowed the institution to collect more than $3 million in long-term savings from 17,000 farmers in 2023. While they mainly rely on cooperatives to collect farmer data and assess farmers creditworthiness, they are interested in improving this method with partners to further expand their reach and impact.
As usual with FFS, after weeks of planning, the event is over in a flash. It is always refreshing being around the cohort, hearing their successes, challenges and ideas for taking their products forward. Often, it was basic iterations that derived the most benefit; one cohort member was able to reduce drop-offs on their app by 83%, simply by reordering their user journey and enabling visitor to view products prior to asking them to register. In other instances, adopting a process of providing instant feedback on any data input, and simplifying how that data was presented back to the user, helped with better engagement.
The over-whelming positive feedback we have received from attendees gives validation that the key FFS objectives were met and we now look forward to continuing the AgriTech Accelerator product iteration and Technical Assistance programme in parallel to planning our next FFS taking place later this year.
GSMA AgriTech Accelerator cohort and team relaxing after another successful Field Focus Session. Photo Credit: Noeïm
The GSMA AgriTech Accelerator is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and supported by the GSMA and its members.
