Investment
by Chiazo Ogbolu
Lagos, March 21, 2018 (NAN) An entrepreneur, Mr Uka Eje, has called for more investment in smallholder farmers in the areas of finance and knowledge to boost agriculture.
Eje, who developed Thrive Agric, said on Wednesday that investments for smallholder farmers would enable them to make greater impacts.
He spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
NAN reports that Thrive Agric is among the 12 startups that will participate in the first Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa Class in Lagos to build the digital ecosystem.
The startup crowdfunds investments for smallholder farmers and provides them with inputs, technology-driven advice and access to market.
Eje said: “Our business is into investment for small farmers so that their yields will be utilised by all.
“We identified some problems that they are facing, and decided to come as a financier for them through our crop-funding platform.
“This can be achieved through aggregating them, creating a supply chain so that they will have many programmes that will enable them to push their products forward.
“Investment in smallholder farmers also comes in form of impacting knowledge of the standards to adopt in the agriculture.’’
He said that the acquired knowledge would enable the farmers to break barriers so that their produce would be acceptable globally.
Eje told NAN that the startup was also aimed at enabling the farmers to have access to premium market where their products would be bought.
He said that Thrive Agric entered the Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa contest in a bid to scale up impact in the agriculture sector.
According to him, the Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa programme will help Thrive Agric to achieve its aim of pushing smallholder farmers’ products across Africa.
NAN reports that the Country Director of Google Nigeria, Mrs Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor , unveiled the 12 successful startups on Monday in Lagos.
Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa programme is for top early-stage African startups that will operate out of Lagos.
To qualify, startups have to be technology-inclined, based in Sub-Saharan Africa, target African market and have seed fund.
Google will also consider the problem the startups are trying to solve, how they create value for users and how they address real challenges for their home city, country or Africa broadly. (NAN)
CAN/IGO
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Edited by Ijeoma Popoola