One of the major challenges facing Africa in the area of food production is not necessarily poor harvest or inadequate yields per hectare rather absence of needed infrastructure and technology know-how to prevent wastages and tap into the value chain. This was the unanimous agreement at the just concluded inaugural partners’ summit of Cellulant Corporation in Lagos, Nigeria.
The pan-African technology company which has empowered Africa’s agriculture sector best ways to leverage on technology to help block inefficiency and wastages in Africa’s Agric value chain courtesy of its improved payment and marketplace solutions, Tingg and Agrikore. Tingg, is a payment solution accessible to everyone, while Agrikore, is an innovative platform built on blockchain technology and connects are simplified and connected platforms for all players in the agriculture sector in over 120 African countries.
Read also : Ghanaian, Nigerian Startups Secure $50k Funding After Village Capital Agriculture Accelerator
The summit themed, ‘Technology for Transformation: Connecting Everyone to Nigeria’s $50bn Agribusiness Opportunity & 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.
In a presentation entitled ‘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.
Read also : Nigerian Bank of Agriculture is Open For New Investors
“If you bring efficiency into the Agric 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 agric farm place 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 Tingg and Agrikore 2.0 provide access to the marketplace, increase transparency and simplifies the whole agric value chain. “Our 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,” he said.
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 the Nigeria’s agric value chain so as to derive maximum benefits in the entire sector.
Highlighting Cellulant’s strides in improving Africa’s Agric value chain, Akinboro said: “We are not just a technology fintech company; we have the technology and operations via Agrikore. When you combine technology and operations, you can change the world. We are providing technology that makes life better for everyone; Nigerians and Africans.
Read also : Kenya ’s Central Bank Cuts Down Interest Rate To 8.25%
“Technology is a critical enabler to solve many of the challenges experienced in the agric 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. Today, the business has built a marketplace and payments platform that provides access to markets, digital financial services, and opens opportunities for all stakeholders to collaborate better and capture the $50b market opportunity.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry