Using technology to plug wastage in Africa's agri value chain

©Ryan Carter via 123RF

Through its payment and market solutions, Tingg and Agrikore, Cellulant will provide an increase in industry transparency.

The summit themed, Technology for transformation: Connecting everyone to Nigeria's $50bn agribusiness opportunity and creating jobs for Africa's youth was attended by development partners including the African Development Bank, Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF), Flutterwave and Deposit Money Banks, and many food processing companies.

According to Nairametics, the $50bn funding was made possible through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between co-CEO Cellulant, Bolaji Akinboro, managing director, Wema Bank, Adedamola Adebise, Executive director NIRSAL representative, Kennedy Nwurah and Ken Njuroge, co-CEO Cellulant. The funding, through the partners initiative, Agrikore will provide Nigerian farmers with the opportunity to do agribusiness in a trusted environment.

Creating efficiency in the agri value chain

In a presentation titled Payments laying down the foundation for connecting Africa, Ken Njoroge, Cellulant's co-chief executive officer, said Africa has a comparative advantage in agriculture but needs efficiency in its value chain to achieve the desired impact on food security, job creation and economic development. "If you bring efficiency into the agricultural value-chain, ensure that crops don't rot on farms, trucks operate regularly, there are no youth unemployed in rural areas, and no factory producing below capacity; if we can connect these dots, we can bring efficiency that can power the transformation of Nigeria and Africa all across the board," he said.

Njoroge added that Agrikore and Tingg have been tested and affirmed to be connecting everyone in the agricultural farm sector while boosting transparency.

"The marketplace and payment platforms are connecting everyone. The payment platform ensures that everyone gets paid in real-time as transactions happen. We know it's working, we are working with 120 banks on the continent; large businesses are our customers. This is a collaboration that continues to benefit all parties," he said.

Bolaji Akinboro, co-chief executive officer of Cellulant, added that the "payment platform allows the farmer, aggregator, supplier, everyone to see how money is flowing in the system. It is for people who want to be part of an ecosystem that is profitable for them and which also provides jobs for hundreds of people."

Akinboro in his presentation titled, From farm to fork: Transforming the agribusiness in Nigeria through technology-what does the future hold, emphasised the need to strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural value chain so as to derive maximum benefits in the entire sector.

"When you combine technology and operations, you can change the world. We are providing technology that makes life better for everyone; Nigerians and Africans.

"Technology is a critical enabler to solve many of the challenges experienced in the agriculture sector. In the last 15 years, Cellulant has actively contributed to connecting all key stakeholders in the value chain, who in the past never interacted with each other. The business has built a marketplace and payment platform that provides access to markets, digital financial services, and opens opportunities for all stakeholders to collaborate better and capture the $50b market opportunity."