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Making Digital Financial Solutions Relevant and Accessible for Zambian Smallholder Farmers

Between 2015 and 2019, AFA worked through a network of core partners in Zambia to reach farmers with financial services, information and market linkages.

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In 2015, Mercy Corps launched the AgriFin Accelerate (AFA) Programme; a six-year, $24 million project funded by the Mastercard Foundation. AFA had the goal of reaching one million farmers with digital financial services across Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, whose specific goal was150,000 smallholder farmers (SHF). Between 2015 and 2019, AFA worked through a network of core partners, value added service providers and various farmer organisations in Zambia to reach farmers with financial services, information and market linkages.  

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ZAMBIA PROGRAM OVERVIEW

In order to better understand the Zambian market and develop products and services suitable for the Zambian market, AFA conducted a country-level ecosystem study, which provided the core framework for decision-making, including the selection of value chains, partners and key strategic inflection points that would have the greatest impact on smallholder farmers. The study further revealed that digital technology could be a powerful tool in reaching smallholder farmers with financial services, information and market linkages.

CHALLENGES FACED BY SMALLHOLDERS IN ZAMBIA

The average Zambian farmer lives on 3-5 hectares of land, a significant distance away from the nearest commercial cluster where retail shops, and sometimes banks, are located. The Zambia ecosystem study further found that smallholder farmers in Zambia live on average 12km away from their nearest financial agent. Traditionally financially excluded with limited access to extension services, fair markets and quality inputs, Zambian smallholder farmers face a number of challenges that limit both their productivity and household income. This is in line with the global picture of smallholder farmers being the most underserved population segment by financial services, with women and youth being at a particular disadvantage.

There are significant costs and risks associated with serving smallholder farmers, mostly related to the sparsity and remoteness of rural population settlements, more so in Zambia. While delivering financial services to the last mile is challenging, the advancement of technology and digital tools provides a unique opportunity to surmount some of these challenges. According to the benchmark study, only one in six smallholder farmers owns a mobile phone. Although phone ownership is not universal as revealed by this statistic, it does provide a stepping-stone for the introduction of digital financial services. At the time of AFA’s entry into the Zambian market in 2016, many financial service providers were coming to the same realization and beginning to introduce more digital financial services, though this was heavily skewed towards the urban market.

In addition to the ecosystem study, AFA conducted Human-Centred Design (HCD) research with smallholder farmers to better understand and map the challenges and opportunities that exist within their internal ecosystems. The HCD research developed a seasonal activity map for Zambian smallholder farmers, which informed the products and services they needed at different points in the year. For example, bridging loans between December and January could enable farmers to sustain their families and pay for school fees after having invested heavily in farm inputs and hired labour for cultivation in November.

AFA adopted a market-facilitation model to drive scalable, commercial product innovation for SHF with its ecosystem partners. Program activities ranged from product design, developing go-to-market strategies, and advising implementation, as well as conducting market research to ensure product-market fit. Key highlights of the work AFA conducted over three years in Zambia are listed below: 

CORE PARTNERS

ZANACO plc

ZANACO plc is one of the leading financial service providers in Zambia in terms of customer reach and branch and agent network. Given its infrastructure and its strong focus on agriculture, the bank is well poised to serve smallholder farmers. ZANACO has experience financing smallholder farmers through their Lima Credit Scheme, which reached almost 20,000 farmers at its peak. The product did well for a few years, and then began making losses due to a series of unfortunate developments. AFA supported ZANACO in running a diagnostic on the Lima Credit Scheme, getting to the root of both its initial success and eventual failure. The end product of this effort was a strategy regarding targeting smallholder farmers with a digital financial product, which AFA spent months refining into a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for pilot with smallholder farmers. Through technical assistance ranging from facilitating a learning visit to Kenya, to business modelling and partnership facilitation, AFA and ZANACO developed AgriPay, a zero-cost transactional account that will eventually allow farmers to save, borrow and access agronomy tips through the same platform. Finally, AFA facilitated ZANACO’s introduction and partnership structuring with organisations such as the Cotton Association of Zambia and Vitalite as part of the product’s go-to-market strategy.

Zoona

Having begun on the market only offering over-the-counter money transfer services, Zoona has made great strides in developing more sophisticated and holistic digital financial solutions (DFS). With increased competitiveness in mobile money, Zoona has developed a consolidated brand, Zoona Plus, a holistic digital wallet offering that allows customers to send money, pay bills, save and borrow through their platform and strategic banking partnerships. Additionally, the service provider is transitioning its outlook from customer-facing to a fintech that offers relevant solutions to other financial service providers. An example of this in action is Zoona’s partnership with Atlas Mara bank, that extends Zoona’s agent network to Atlas Mara customers, allowing them to transact at any Zoona booth nationwide. Zoona has also grown its rural presence by recruiting and training agro-dealers as retail agents. Through meaningful and sustainable partnerships, a strong DFS platform, and an extensive agent network, Zoona has great potential as a market enabler for driving greater financial inclusion, especially for rural-based customers such as smallholder farmers.

VALUE-ADDED SERVICE PROVIDERS

Social Enterprises – Vitalite, Rent-to-own, Pula:

AFA has run several engagements with value-added service providers who are committed to serving rural-based smallholder farmers. Some common necessities across the different service providers include:

  1. The need for a trustworthy rural touchpoint to interface with smallholder farmers, often agrodealers or lead farmers.
  2. The benefit of peer-to-peer learning and trusted referrals in farmers adopting new technologies.

Both Vitalite and Pula work through established local businesses who already serve their own network of farmers within the community. While Rent-to-Own has its own sales staff, this staff often mobilises farmer groups that facilitate community-level engagement and peer-to-peer learning. Social entreprises are key in driving rural development and agricultural advancement in Zambia. From helping farmers adopt meaningful insurance to introducing improved farm inputs such as drought resistant seeds and solar irrigation pumps, value-added service providers can be considered the front line in driving increased farmer productivity and resilience. Through a robust field-level sales force, value added service providers offer well-established relationships with farmers and farmer networks, from which DFS providers can introduce new products. AFA facilitated one such partnership between Vitalite and ZANACO; which has seen both the onboarding of Vitalite farmers as bank customers and Vitalite agents as ZANACO Xpress agents.

Farmer-Centric Organisations – WFP, CAZ, DAZ, iDE:

Farmer-centric organisations such as WFP play an important role in facilitating market access as well as the adoption of improved farming practices. Much like value-added service providers, farmer-centric organisations work through trusted community-level organisers, be they lead farmers, facilitators, or agrodealers. Through the formation of sustainable and mutually-beneficial partnerships, farmer-centric organisations provide a trusted entry-point for DFS providers looking to expand into rural areas. As an example, 27 Farm Business Advisors under iDE’s network have been onboarded as ZANACO Xpress Agents. These FBAs serve a collective network of approximately 90.000 smallholder farmers throughout the year. Farmer-centric organisations play a pivotal role in enhancing farmer productivity through advising on input selection and use, as well as connecting farmers to markets. They hence solve for challenges that financial service providers often face in dealing with smallholder farmers; the need for a guaranteed market and a farmer’s good yield.

Over three years of active engagement, AFA has seen a number of shifts on the Zambian market including:

  • Increased mobile phone ownership;
  • Emergence of partnerships between traditional and non-traditional financial institutions;
  • More complex and comprehensive financial products and rapid agent network expansion with a marked interest in a shared agent network.

AFA’s partners have also seen great shifts in their internal models. ZANACO, a leading bank in Zambia, has gone from writing-off smallholder financing entirely to launching AgriPay with 6,000 farmers. Zoona, a mobile money operator, has grown from being an entirely customer facing business to adopting more of a business-to-business model in providing an interoperable digital platform.

KEY OBSERVATIONS

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Savings are the biggest value-proposition for DFS uptake

Research conducted with smallholder farmers has repeatedly revealed that a savings facility is the biggest motivator for adopting digital financial solutions. The savings behaviour is something Zambian farmers already practice either through storing cash in their homes or holding onto farm produce to sell for cash at a later stage. Farmers appreciate the safety that a digital wallet can provide, and hence are more keen to adopt and use DFS if it meets their need for safe storage and enables financial planning. 

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Farmer-centric organisations enable more effective go-to-market implementation

In piloting AgriPay, AFA facilitated partnerships between ZANACO and the Cotton Association of Zambia, the Dairy Association of Zambia, iDE, Vitalite and the World Food Programme. These organisations were able to conduct sensitisation campaigns and ensure that farmers under their network were primed for account opening once the ZANACO acquisition team was on the ground. This has allowed ZANACO to open accounts with 6,000 so far. 

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Introducing digital financial solutions creates a business case for increased phone ownership

As farmers learned of the AgriPay solution and the ability to transact and save through mobile phones, those who did not own mobile devices were encouraged to do so, and made the decision to buy phones so they could benefit from the account. As previously mentioned, only one in six smallholder farmers own mobile phones. With the introduction of a tangible use case, such as AgriPay, farmers see more value in phone ownership and are more likely to procure phones. Phone penetration and the introduction of DFS can hence move in tandem. 

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Agrodealers make a better customer acquisition channel than direct sales agents or brand ambassadors

Direct Sales Agents and Brand Ambassadors are traditionally located in more urban or peri-urban areas, often outside the radius of the smallholder farmers they wish to serve. For this reason their interaction with farmers is limited. Agrodealers, on the other hand, are based within the communities they serve and are often farmers themselves. As regulation around banking agents is changing, and provided that adequate risk-mitigating measures are put in place, agrodealers could play a more crucial role in customer acquisition for financial service providers. In partnership with UNCDF, ZANACO was able to onboard 300 new agents, a majority of which were agrodealers. Zoona was also able to onboard 60 new agro dealers who will serve as a channel for smallholder farmers to access more digital financial solutions through a shared agent platform. 

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Farmers appreciate digital capacity-building tools, but only as a refresher for in-person training

While farmers appreciate having training videos on their phones, they value in-person training more for the ability to engage and ask questions where they are unclear. 

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LOOKING AHEAD

By the end of 2019, through various implementing partners ranging from banks to pay-as-you-go solar providers, AFA enabled 258,997 smallholder farmers to access digitally-enabled services including finance, information and market linkages. With the shifts seen in the Zambia market, mainly increased desire and value-proposition for a shared agent network and increased phone ownership, the uptake and use of digital financial services by smallholder farmers are set to rise.  

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Authors:

Samantha Malambo – Consultant Program Coordinator, Mercy Corps AgriFin Accelerate

Elena Holtkotte – Strategic Learning and Communications Lead, Mercy Corps AgriFin

Muthoni Mugo – Program MErL and Communications Officer, Mercy Corps AgriFin Accelerate

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Sadik Adan

Finance Director

Sadik Adan is the Finance Director at Mercy Corps AgriFin, overseeing all accounting and financial management functions to ensure compliance, efficiency, and effectiveness in project delivery. He leads the implementation of robust financial systems, aligning with organizational policies, donor guidelines, and contractual obligations to support impactful programs.
With over a decade of expertise in strategic finance and managing complex, high-compliance donor funds, Sadik brings in-depth knowledge in budgeting, financial analysis, and auditing for large-scale projects. His background includes enhancing core financial systems to support accurate resource reporting and risk management.
Before joining Mercy Corps, Sadik held senior roles with the International Rescue Committee, gaining extensive experience in finance across humanitarian projects in fragile and conflict-affected regions. He holds an MBA in Finance from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and is a certified Project DPro professional.

Jasmina Lipovic

Global Finance, Operations and Compliance Director

Jasmina Lipovic is the Global Finance, Operations, and Compliance Director for Mercy Corps’ AgriFin Program, bringing over 20 years of expertise in financial management, compliance, and operations across diverse regions. She has successfully led programs in the Balkans, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, managing funds from both institutional and private donors.

With a strong foundation in strategic financial planning, risk management, and operational efficiency, Jasmina drives key financial initiatives and ensures regulatory adherence across AgriFin’s global footprint. Previously, she served as Finance Director for Mercy Corps Kenya, where she established and managed a youth Grants and Investment Fund, creating sustainable funding and vetting processes for over 3,000 small grants.

Jasmina holds an MBA and an Entrepreneurship Leaders Program certificate from Portland State University’s School of Business, along with a Bachelor’s in Marketing, Finance, and Management from the University of Tuzla. Her leadership and innovation have been instrumental in advancing Mercy Corps’ mission worldwide.

Philip Tigo

Senior Director for Africa, Thunderbird School of Global Management

Philip Thigo is a technology, data & public policy expert. He is the Senior Director for Africa for the Thunderbird School for Global Management, a Technical Advisor at the Presidency on Data and Open Government and Senior Consultant for UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa. He was recognized by Apolitical as one of the World’s 100 most influential people in digital government in 2018. He is currently a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Futures Council on Global Public Goods for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Mr Thigo has previously advised the Minister for Agriculture, key in developing the Joint Agriculture Mechanism, the Big Four Food and Nutrition Security Presidential Priority and the Agriculture Transformation and Growth Strategy while he was at this a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Councils on Food Systems Innovation.

He has previously held executive positions, notably Infonet Africa and Foundation El Taller with experience spanning across Asia, Africa, MENA & Latin America. He has co-created unique technology initiatives such as Apps4Africa with the US State Department, Uchaguzi to monitor Elections in over 9 Countries in Africa, Budget Tracking Tool for citizen engagement and Sauti Yetu (Huduma) on public service delivery monitoring, #GOKInteracts for engaging high-level Government Officials with the public. Mr Thigo has previously supported the African Union Commission, Bureau of the Chairperson & the African Governance Architecture (AGA) where he co-created the first-ever AU digital engagement through #DGTRENDS.

He currently serves as the Point of Contact for Open Government Partnership (OGP), acts as the national focal point for the Global Partnership on Sustainable Development Data, which he co-founded with colleagues from Governments of the United States, Colombia, the United Kingdom and the Private Sector. Mr Thigo is worked to bring the Africa Regional Data Cube (ARDC) a founding steering committee member of Digital Earth Africa where he now serves in its Technical Advisory Committee.

He is an Advisory Board Member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Nairobi Hub and the Chair of the Board of Mtoto News, an award-winning digital platform based in Kenya that uses technology to make children and their issues visible. Philip was honored at the 50th Anniversary of the Academy of Achievement as a Delegate.

Tamer El-Raghy

Managing Director, Acumen Resilience Agriculture Fund

Tamer El-Raghy is the Managing Director of the Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF); a $58 million impact fund and the world’s first equity fund designed to build the climate resilience of smallholder farmers. Tamer has more than 20 years of private equity, venture capital, M&A, entrepreneurial, and innovation experience in Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and Europe.

Prior to joining ARAF, Tamer was with responsAbility AG as Head of Agri&Food PE Fund in Africa where he co-led the structuring, due diligence, and closing of transactions that impacted 35,000 smallholder farmers. Before responsAbility AG, he led Cargill’s growth strategy and M&A activities in Africa with a focus on animal nutrition, animal protein, and commodities value chains in Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Zambia, and Ghana, impacting 50,000 smallholders.

Tamer started his career as a materials engineer, where he co-invented a new class of materials, held nine patents, and founded 3-ONE-2 LLC, as a joint venture, commercializing the technology for both civilian and defense applications. Tamer earned an MBA from the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business, a PhD in Materials Engineering from Drexel University, and a BSc in Metallurgical Engineering from Cairo University.

Tamara Cook

CEO, Financial Sector Deepening, Kenya

Tamara Cook was appointed the CEO of FSD Kenya in July 2019. She has been with FSD Kenya since 2014 as the Head of Digital Innovations with a focus on using finance to create value for low-income households and enterprises. She has been involved with many digital innovations including digital savings and credit, mobile health, mobile treasury bonds, mobile agricultural finance, merchant payments and mobile bank payments. She served on M-Kopa’s board for five years and is now a member of their Credit Committee. Prior to FSD Kenya, Tamara spent seven years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation managing a global portfolio of grants and loans supporting financial service providers reaching poor people with digital financial services. She also spent ten years with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), housed at the World Bank, including two years in Paris working on aid effectiveness and a year on secondment with Equity Bank in Kenya. She has an MBA from INSEAD, a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University and a diploma from the Academy of Executive Coaches.

Stewart Collis

Senior Program Officer, Digital Agriculture Solutions The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Stewart Collis is Senior Program Officer for Digital Agriculture Solutions at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where he focuses on digital farmer services, smart farming and digital agricultural systems in low and middle income countries across Africa and South Asia. Mr Collis has over 24 years’ experience in agricultural information technology and was co-founder and CTO at aWhere, a Benefit Corporation providing global ag-weather content, agricultural modeling and analytics to private and public sector partners.

Previously Mr Collis worked on climate-driven spatial crop simulation modeling and ag-data management tools at the International Center for Research in Agroforestry and Texas A&M University. Mr Collis has a Masters of Engineering Science in Geomatic Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Sieka Gatabaki

Program Officer, Social Impact Bayer Foundation

Stefan is a Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation veteran with 10+ years of professional experience in the sector and a passion for Impact Measurement and Management. Before joining Bayer Foundation, he helped build and scale, two award winning Social Impact Startups in Germany, Colombia and Mexico, where he also worked as a Senior Consultant for CAF – Development Bank of Latin America.

At Bayer Foundation, Stefan is responsible for the Social Innovation program portfolio with a specific focus on high impact ventures in sustainable agriculture and access to health. Stefan holds a diploma in Cultural and Business Studies from the Universities of Passau and Salvador da Bahia as well as a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Humboldt University Berlin and Europa University Viadrina. He is a Global Good Fund Fellow, LAJF scholar, and a Vodafone World of Difference Fellow. Stefan is fluent in German, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Sean Krepp

Senior Program Officer, Google.org

Sean Krepp is an award winning tech for humanity entrepreneur with 20 years of international telecom and internet experience. He is currently working on Google Cloud (AI) Talent Solution, a search and recommendations suite of products, to address under/unemployment. He is also certified privacy professional, who was on the core team at Google which initiated the GDPR program.

Passionate about digital and financial inclusion, Sean led Google’s Emerging Markets Operations in Africa and previously led Grameen AppLab Uganda where he was recognized as a 2012 Tech Award Laureate. He also led Nokia Life Tools business development in Middle East and Africa as Head of Nokia Emerging Markets Services in the region. He serves as an advisor on various digital inclusion related initiatives such as the Berkeley Big Ideas Competition.

Sean is a graduate of the TRIUM 2009 (LSE, NYU Stern, HEC Paris) GEMBA program which ranks 2nd in the FT global business education rankings. He also holds an MA from the College of Europe in Bruges and a BSc Honors from the University of Western Ontario. He has lived and worked in 9 countries on three continents North America, Europe and Africa and speaks 3 languages.

Scott Onder

Senior Managing Director, Mercy Corps Ventures

Scott Onder is the Senior Managing Director of Mercy Corps Ventures where he invests in high-impact, high-growth startups in frontier and emerging markets. Mercy Corps Ventures leverages the global reach of a leading development agency to provide early stage capital, value-added support, and catalytic partnerships so ventures can scale to positively impact millions of people. Scott is focused on investments in startups that drive financial inclusion through blockchain, crypto and other digital financial solutions. MCV also backs technology innovations that help communities adapt in the face of climate change. Scott is on the boards of directors of multiple portfolio companies and on the Advisory Council of Mercy Corps AgriFin, an initiative supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, that bundles digital financial and information services over mobile to improve small farmer productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. He graduated magna cum laude from Duke University.

Paul Breloff

CEO & Co-Founder, Shortlist

Paul is the Co-Founder and CEO of Shortlist, a talent matching platform connecting skilled professionals to great careers across Africa and India. Since its founding in 2016, Shortlist has worked with 700+ companies and 1,200,000+ job seekers across 26 countries. Before Shortlist, Paul was the Founder and Managing Director of Accion Venture Lab, a financial inclusion-focused venture capital fund, where he invested in 24 fintech startups across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the US, including investments in mobile banking, marketplace lending, digital SME and ag finance, and Big Data credit analysis. Prior to that, Paul worked with SKS Microfinance, India’s largest microfinance institution, leading a team of 20 in Hyderabad, India on business development, product, and strategic partnerships across education, clean energy, mobile, and rural distribution. Paul has also advised CGAP, Root Capital, Shell Foundation, BRAC, and others on access-to-finance issues globally; practiced corporate law with Mayer Brown; and worked as an advertising account executive for Leo Burnett. He has also been a corporate lawyer and advertising account executive, and speaks and writes regularly on topics related to impact investing, human capital, and talent. He lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mwombeki Baregu

Head of Agriculture and Rural Finance – Financial Sector Deepening Trust Tanzania

Mwombeki Baregu is responsible for project design, implementation, and management of the projects and portfolio of the Agriculture and Rural Finance theme. The theme project interventions focus on reducing transaction costs and growing product development for agriculture and rural finance. The projects focus areas include microfinance, digital financial services, value chain financing, sector development, and financial and agriculture research and policies.

He has experience in banking, finance, agriculture and policy research, and economics. He has worked for various institutions including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in their Financial Institutions Group, with NMB Bank in Tanzania as Head of Product Development and Research with a focus on Agribusiness; and with the World Bank in Tanzania as a Consultant in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit (PREM) where he researched and consulted on agriculture and economic policies in Tanzania. Mwombeki has published on agriculture policies, has participated in various agriculture related workshops, and is active in agriculture and policy initiatives.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics with minors in Business Administration and Political Science. An enthusiastic economist from his early years of study, he received recognitions for Economic Excellence and for Macroeconomic Theory during his undergraduate studies. He holds a Masters in Business Administration.

He is an avid reader of financial and economic history and is a follower of financial and economic trends.

Matthew Shakhovskoy

Senior Advisor, ISF Advisors, GDI

Matt is a Senior Advisor with ISF Advisors at the Global Development Incubator. Over the past fifteen years Matt has worked in the areas of private equity and development advisory for a number of leading organisations including GDI, Agis Investments, Dalberg and Deloitte. Over this time, Matt has been involved in over 60 projects in 25 counties working with partners such as the Gates Foundation, the World Bank, USAID, MTN and the G8. These projects have included the design of over 500 million dollars in development programming, the mobilisation of large amounts of capital and the development of some industry leading initiatives such as ANDE, Ag Results and the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance. Within this portfolio of work Matt has worked on direct investment strategies in Zimbabwe including the assessment of consumer goods and agricultural sub-sectors and due diligence on a range of investments. Matt holds a MSc in Sustainable Development from the University of London and Bachelors of Business and Economics from the University of Queensland.

Johann Bezuidenhoudt

Senior Mobile Payments Specialist

Johann Bezuidenhoudt is a consultant specialising in the use of payment systems and mobile technology in the developing world. He supports financial regulators in national payment system regulation and the oversight of electronic payments systems. He has recently been involved in academic work on the regulation of crypto exchanges. Previously he oversaw business development at a large multinational mobile network operator which included the launching of mobile money and value added services. He also worked for a large electricity utility where he was involved in the start-up of the sale of prepayment electricity. He holds electrical engineering and business degrees. He also serves on the board of a citrus processing and marketing company.

Senior Financial Sector Specialist CGAP

Program Director

Jamie Anderson is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist focused on better understanding and including the financially underserved, particularly women, youth, smallholder households, and migrants. Ms Anderson led CGAP’s demand-side research with smallholder households—which included financial diaries in three markets and six nationally-representative household surveys—and dissemination of results on the CGAP Smallholder Families Data Hub. Before joining CGAP, Ms. Anderson worked as a technical adviser in Rural Finance at the International Fund for Agricultural Development and as an independent consultant for the Boulder Institute of Microfinance and GIZ. Her agricultural experience is both in research with the University of California Small Farm Center and on-farm in fresh-market organic vegetable production.

Dr. Evan Girvetz

Principal Scientist and Global Program Leader, Finance and Investments for Climate Action CIAT

Dr Evan Girvetz is a Principal Scientist and Global Program Leader, Finance and Investments for Climate Action, at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), part of the One CGIAR. His research spans agricultural risk management, climate-smart agriculture (CSA), agricultural investment planning, and sustainable agricultural intensification.

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr Girvetz works on these issues globally through innovative partnerships with the private sector, NGOs and key public sector partners. Dr Girvetz earned a PhD from the University of California, Davis, and is widely published with his research being featured in top media outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, New Scientist magazine and Financial Times of London.

Ferhana Jelaludin

Engagement Consultant (Ethiopia)

Ferhana Jelaludin is an engagement consultant for Mercy Corps Ethiopia. Ferhana has over 5 years of experience working in the Ethiopian Agriculture sector. Before joining the AgriFin program, she worked at the Agricultural Transformation Institute’s (Formerly known as ATA – Agricultural Transformation Agency) in-house consultancy analytics team as a senior analyst. During her stay in the Analytics, Ferhana was assigned to work on different cases that involved close engagement with internal and external stakeholders. She worked in several case teams, completing numerous cases per year on diverse topics.

Prior to her time in Analytics, Ferhana worked in the Agricultural commercialization clusters (ACCs) by supporting the regional offices in problem identification and solving, project managing, and providing the necessary support. This required close engagement and collaboration with ATA regional offices. Ferhana received her BA in Economics from Addis Ababa University School of Commerce. In addition, she is a certified Project Manager from the American Academy of Project Management.

Dolapo Olusanmokun

Program Engagement Consultant (Nigeria)

Dolapo supports AgriFin’s partnerships and engagements in Nigeria. She is a private sector development consultant with nine years experience and an applied understanding of the market systems development approach and poverty reduction on internationally-funded programs in emerging markets in East and West Africa. Dolapo has experience working on market system programs ranging from health, wholesale and retail markets, construction and small-scale mining to agri-business. 

Dolapo is adept at conducting qualitative research, data analysis, and report writing. Based on her interest in knowledge management, Dolapo has been the lead author on donor funded research reports, program case studies and policy briefs. Prior to her work in private sector development, Dolapo worked in investments in a boutique investment firm focusing on principal investments in financial services, healthcare, infrastructure, hospitality, agriculture and energy sectors across Africa. Dolapo identified and conducted investment analysis and appraised potential investments. 

A Nigerian national based in Lagos, Dolapo grew up in Nigeria, Brazil and Hong Kong. She holds a BA in International Business and Economics from the State University of New York, Brockport and an MSc in Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics.

Julia Muthoni

Program Officer

Julia has been our Program Support Consultant since November 2020.

She brings over 7 years’ cumulative experience project planning, management, business analysis and requirements gathering and implementation of projects in the ICT sector, Banking, Telecommunications and Public Sector.

Prior to joining AgriFin, she worked as a project coordinator at BSK Global Technologies Ltd where she oversaw the implementation of fintech projects in conjunction with a leading Telecommunications Company and a Pan African Bank, ensuring that projects were developed and implemented on time, in scope and quality. She began her career at Radix Consulting Ltd where she oversaw the implementation of key technology products across Africa in the telecommunications sector. 

Julia holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology and looks forward to utilizing her technology skills to scale digital solutions for AgriFin clients and impact Small Holder Farmers lives.

Lydia Wafula

Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Accountability and Learning Manager

Lydia is a Research Economist with over 6 years’ experience in managing and implementing research and research for development initiatives in the fields of Agriculture, Natural Resources Management, Market and Value Chain Development, Gender, Governance and Institutional Development. She has in-depth knowledge and experience in research and project management including research design, management and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, community development and partnership management.

Prior to this role, Lydia worked at various capacities at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) on several programs such as DRYDEV, EverGreen Agriculture and Land Restoration/FMNR, where she co-ordinated and managed project surveys, gender and feasibility assessments, data, monitoring systems, communities of practice and co-learning among program partners. She led capacity building activities, facilitated the design and management of action learning initiatives and evidence sharing among farmers and stakeholders that informed program planning and implementation.

She has worked across Eastern Africa with various partners including World Vision, SNV, ADRA, IFAD, EU, DfID, UN, CIMMYT, KALRO, and government departments across the region. She is passionate in working with communities towards eradication of poverty, improving livelihoods and mitigating the effects of climate change to ensure the environment remains evergreen! 

She holds a Master’s degree in Agriculture and Applied Economics from University of Nairobi and a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education and Extension from Egerton University.

Clare Jepchumba Cheptumo

Program Support Manager

Clare is Mercy Corps AgriFin’s Program Support Manager. Her role entails providing program technical and managerial support across partner engagements in the AgriFin countries of operation. She previously served as AgriFin’s Senior Program Officer. Clare brings over nine years’ cumulative work experience in program and projects management, capacity building, partner liaison, international development, business administration, community development and social entrepreneurship. 

Prior to joining the team, Clare worked as a project management coordinator for the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) Refugee and Host Community program in Kakuma, Turkana County, working closely with UNHCR, UNHABITAT, UNDP and governmental institutions. She has worked as a program manager at Strathmore Business School dealing with executive education programs for corporate directors and C-suite managers. A strong believer in sustainability of projects, Clare managed and linked up 15 youth-led action projects from Mexico, Cameroon, Vanuatu, Uganda, Afghanistan, Bahrain among others, to investors at the Social Innovation Global Ethics Forum in Geneva, while working at UNESCO HQ in France.

Clare has a Bachelor of Education (German) from Kenyatta University, Nairobi and holds an MBA in International Management from Nuertingen-Geislingen University in Germany.

Kassim Zani

Gender Transformative Programming Lead

Kassim has extensive experience in the human right based approach to programming with a technical background in gender, women’s empowerment, governance, and social accountability. Kassim is highly experienced in developing gender-responsive policies and strategies; gender analysis and devising innovative strategies to effectively address those needs through gender mainstreaming, public policy analysis, capacity building, and developing gender equality action plans.

Before joining Mercy Corps Agrifin, Kassim worked for The United Nations where he successfully implemented Gender Mainstreaming strategies for various programs, providing required technical support to country teams by ensuring women’s terms of inclusion are improved by stimulating teams with innovative approaches and strategies to balance private sector business interest with programme goals.

When he’s not at work, he loves, spending his time going on long relaxing drives, watching movies and having deep conversations with friends and family.

Raphael L. Lokeny

Operations Manager

Raphael Lokeny is an experienced Procurement and Logistics specialist, with 10 years’ experience supporting program operations within the INGO space, under different donor, funding and geographical contexts. His specific areas of expertise include procurement, logistics and fleet management, asset and inventory management and general office administration.

Prior to joining Mercy Corps AgriFin, Raphael was the Procurement & Logistics Manager at SOS Children’s Villages in Kenya where he provided overall leadership and management of the procurement and logistics department, led the development and implementation of strong governance through procurement policies, processes and controls; facilitated the development of supply chain plans to support program implementation and coordinated closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure operational support excellence to the country programs.

Raphael previously worked at Mercy Corps Kenya office as country Senior Operations Officer for over 5 years, and he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in Mercy Corps Global operation systems, policies, and processes. He holds a professional diploma in procurement and supply and is a certified Procurement and Supply Professional of Kenya (CPSP-K) and member of the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management. Raphael also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Actuarial Science and is currently undertaking his Master’s degree.

Irene N. Warui

Senior Global Digital Climate Smart Agriculture Officer

Irene’s passion for tech and marketing/communications has been a driving force in her career. At Mercy Corps AgriFin, she works on the Sprout project, transforming and digitizing content, as well as supporting marketing and communications activities for the Sprout platform. Her role involves disseminating the content to farmers through partner organizations, ensuring that they can leverage the power of digital technology to improve their income and livelihoods.

Previously, Irene led the Marketing & Communications efforts for several startups, including BRCK and Surf Kenya, and helped deploy Express Wi-Fi by Facebook hotspots across Kenya connecting over 1 million Kenyans to the internet.

She has a background in Computer Science with a BSc. from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (JKUAT) and is in current pursuit of an MBA at the University of Nairobi.

Samuel Karanja

Senior Regional Agriculture Manager

Samuel has over 12 years’ experience designing inclusive market facilitation and financing models for small and medium enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a seasoned expert in making markets work for the poor (M4P) through developing innovative and competitive value chains and has successfully completed numerous consultancy assignments for different organisations including; WFP, World Vision, NRC, DCA and Mercy Corps.

Prior to this role, he led the Growth Enterprise, Employment and Livelihoods, USAID project in Somalia in developing competitive agriculture value chains. He has also worked with Equity Bank Kenya where he supported to establish an agribusiness docket for financing small scale farmers. Samuel has also worked with other development organizations across East Africa including; Technoserve where he offered business advisory to agribusinesses and Global Communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi supporting agribusiness SMEs to expand their trade.

He is a PhD finalist in Strategic management, holds an MBA and a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture.

Betty Muriithi

Senior Regional Digital Financial Services Manager

Betty joined the AgriFin Accelerate (AFA) Program with 17 years’ experience in banking at Barclays Bank and Bank of Africa in Kenya. She has strong skills developing and implementing sustainable digital products and high level exposure to digital financial services solutions.

Prior to this role, Betty led card management and multi-channel services at Bank of Africa Kenya, owning the bank’s strategy with regard to product development, business development, support and implementation of projects. She was actively involved in developing digital channels at the bank and worked directly with telecommunications companies and technology partners to deliver electronic services to retail banking clients across industries.

Betty holds a Global Executive Masters in Business Administration from United States International University Africa (USIU-A) and an undergraduate degree in International Business Administration from USIU-A. She has continued to update her expertise through advanced banking courses over her extensive banking career.

Emmanuel Makau

Technology Data Decision Manager and Kenya Country Lead

Emmanuel Makau is a Technology, Digital Innovation and Data specialist with a career spanning over 15 years. Emmanuel’s knowledge and experience of technology spans business operations and processes – strategizing and executing product/program delivery roadmap and technology innovation strategies, while leading the entire project cycle, from business requirements analysis, through budgeting and resource allocation, partner mapping and on boarding, product development and deployment.  

 

Emmanuel has had the opportunity to work for major International organizations in the region and gained diversified experience, having successfully grown & held positions as a Risk Analyst Team Leader at Celtel, Product Manager Core products and Devices Zain Kenya, VAS Manager Safaricom Ltd, Enterprise Product Manager Safaricom Ltd, Business Development Manager- Mobile and Digital Inclusion Airtel Africa and most recently as Head, Mobile Financial Services in Airtel Africa, Marketing and currently as the Technology Data Decisioning Manager and Kenya Country Lead at Mercy Corps AgriFin.

 

Emmanuel is currently pursuing an Executive MBA with the Management University of Africa. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Management Information Systems from Daystar University and is an internationally certified Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), a Computer Information Systems Auditor (CISA), holds a diploma in Computer Electronics and Engineering, and an advanced certificate on Credit Scoring.

 

During his free time Emmanuel likes to research and explore new technology and gadgets, practice his Muay Thai, mentoring the youth, farming, and most of all spending time with his wife, son and daughter Jennifer, Micah, and Marie.

Elias Nure

Global Digital Climate Smart Agriculture Director

Elias Nure is leading Mercy Corps’ AgriFin Digital Climate Smart Agriculture team and supporting the program expand into Ethiopia. Elias has over 10 years’ experience in international development, technology and agriculture. Prior to joining the AgriFin Program, Elias was seconded from the UN WFP to manage the Ethiopian Agriculture Transformation Agency’s (ATA) ICT for Agriculture Services program. The ICT for Agriculture Services program is tasked on automating, centralizing, and simplifying the dissemination of critical information to a wide range of agricultural stakeholders across the sector. The program’s portfolio includes projects such as the 8028 Farmers’ Hotline, one of Africa’s single largest IVR/SMS services, the Ethiopian Agriculture Investment Mapping tool (ETH-AIM), the Agriculture Input Tracking system (ITS), and many other projects that have concluded.

Prior to Elias’ work in Ethiopia, he also worked in the United States, in organizations that include Accenture and Unisys, on a number of US government projects. At Unisys, Elias supported the TSA Operating Platform (TOP), which is a collection of shared IT services that support mission critical applications across TSA. Some of the TOP applications Elias worked on and supported include the No-Fly List, Performance and Results Information System (PARIS), and many other reporting and data collections applications.

Elias attended the Villanova University, where he received his B.S. in Computer Science, and the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, where he received his MA in International Relations.

Collins Abuga Marita

Technical Director – Strategic Learning

Collins brings 13 years of experience in research and project management, with a specialty in financial and agricultural sector-related research projects. He has also worked in the health and ICT sectors. His expertise spans over ten countries in Africa and Asia in both qualitative and quantitative research, including designing and implementing studies, as well as program monitoring and evaluation.

Prior to joining AgriFin, Collins managed the Financial Inclusion Insights (FII) research program for Kenya, with an additional focus on the agricultural value chain in eight countries. While at FII, he was also part of the team coordinating research on smallholder farmer households’ use of digital financial services supported by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). Collins has worked in the private sector research community as a research manager, and, in the NGO sector, as a monitoring and evaluation officer for IFDC (2SCALE), a project focused on improving farmer livelihoods through the formation of agribusiness clusters.

He also worked at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), under the Livelihoods, Gender and Impact program, as an impact assessment consultant in Nairobi and Addis Ababa. Collins is a published author and holds a Master of Science degree in Research Methods from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nairobi and has a diploma in Business Management from the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM).

Grace N. Njoroge

Deputy Program Director

Grace is the Deputy Program Director at Mercy Corps AgriFin supporting the Program Director with programming and management of the portfolio. Grace has 12 years’ experience in the financial inclusion and international development sectors. Grace joined AgriFin from the GSMA Innovation Fund where she supported innovative start-ups and SMEs using mobile centric innovative solutions to achieve sustainable growth and improved socio-economic impact across Africa and Asia Pacific.

She has also worked at KPMG East Africa’s International Development Advisory Services unit where she managed among others the Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity whose objective was to provide financial access to unbanked and under-banked communities of rural sub-Saharan Africa. Grace was also the programme coordinator for a youth programme in Kenya, funded by the Government, and supported by the World Bank that provided training and funding for 750 young entrepreneurs across the country.

Prior to joining KPMG, Grace gained extensive experience as a technical advisor with one of the leading boutique financial inclusion consulting firms, MSC Consulting. Grace led and executed technical assistance assignments to financial service providers for delivery of market-led products and services. She has worked with banks, telcos, micro-finance Institutions, Savings and Credit Co-operative Unions (SACCOs) and donor agencies in Africa and Asia to develop and customize products and channels of delivery, optimise operational efficiencies, reengineer processes, manage risks, design and deliver training. She has also been a micro-finance consultant for one of the leading commercial banks in Kenya where her major tasks including growing the business for the bank targeting customers at the base of the pyramid.

Grace also sits on the board of the African Women in Fintech and Payments (AWFP) network – Kenya chapter, as a founding board member.

Sieka Gatabaki

Program Director

Sieka is the Program Director for Mercy Corps AgriFin directing all programming and strategic partnerships. Sieka has worked for over 16 years as a digital innovations practitioner and a business strategy leader with a passion for helping institutions and individuals benefit from new technologies for deepening access to financial and information services. He currently leads work in strategy, product usage and development, channel development and go-to-market execution, providing digital financial and information services to small holder farmers in the Global South.

Previously, Sieka served as the Group Digital Alliances Manager at Airtel Africa, Airtel Money Director at Airtel Kenya and Technical Advisor with IFC, supporting digital financial inclusion across Africa. He has consulted for various organizations, including Vital Wave, Ernest & Young, and Grameen Foundation and serves on the board of a number of organizations in various sectors. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and is completing a Masters in Sociology and Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi.