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AgriFin’s COVID-19 Response

Eleanor Muli, 53, in her dried-up fields. She relies on rain-fed agriculture to support her family, a livelihood that has become increasingly fragile with the growing effects of climate change. Kenya has been battling recurring drought conditions since 2014. Since December 2019, hundreds of millions of locusts arrived in Kenya, where they continue to form swarms and destroy farmland, especially around the arid northwest.

We believe that moments of crisis can be moments of transformation, and we’re rapidly deploying strategies and partnerships to digitally address the COVID-19 pandemic and Desert Locust Invasion threats.

Double Threat

East Africa is on the brink of an unprecedented Desert Locust crisis. COVID-19 response measures have hampered distribution and transportation of needed pesticides, leaving over 9 million hectares at risk of massive crop devastation. With over 2.5 million farmers already impacted, the FAO said the situation is “dangerous” as a second generation of swarms have now started to form in northwest Kenya and threaten to invade Sudan, Chad, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Incomes & Livelihoods

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the business of growing food and moving it to markets has become increasingly difficult. Slowdowns in financial markets, curfews and social distancing affecting mobility, and disrupting supply and decision-making across agricultural value chains, converge to challenge already strained systems. UNDP estimates that developing countries stand to lose $220 Billion in income, and that 50% of jobs across Africa could be lost due to the pandemic.

Food System Safety

Entire food supply systems are breaking as rural producers scramble to access resources to grow food for their communities and the greater supply chain. Farmers and other workers along the food supply chain are risking their health to prevent food shortages. Many of these workers lack access to healthcare, increasing their health risk from exposure to COVID-19. It is vital that farmers receive the right information to ensure they are working safely.

Digital innovation in a socially-distant world

More than ever before, smallholder farmers need access to information, financing, insurance, quality inputs, and connections to buyers in order to face the challenges confronting them. Many of our ecosystem partners themselves are facing significant business and operational risks as we weather this storm. AgriFin is committed to:

  • Support farmer education and information flows to support health, productivity and resilience outcomes
  • Support safe market systems for farmers, distributors, sellers and buyers
  • Focus on clearing logistics bottlenecks to move food working with logistics channels and hubs
  • Invest in the planting season with partners that build productivity, links to markets and reduced waste
  • Support Ag-Tech companies, especially e-commerce and e-market platforms, to expand their market reach
  • Support uses of digital data to expand service delivery and financial services.

Smallholder farmers in East Africa are a crucial part of the food value chain that is currently facing two distinct crises: coronavirus and a locust invasion. However, the ongoing uptake of digital solutions is helping to strengthen resilience in the agriculture sector and ensure that fresh produce can still reach the hundreds of millions of consumers reliant on smallholders for their food.

Pivoting to face Covid-19

The AgriFin model is deliberate about adapting our programming to cope with the effects of systems-level disruptions, leveraging our network of digital partners and solutions that can collaborate and support the farmers and each other. Our work is driving innovation and collaboration across growing groups of partners to combat the joint threat of COVID-19 and Desert Locusts. Click on the tabs below for some highlights of our COVID-19 response activities in different countries.

(Note: this list is not exhaustive of all of our COVID-19 response activities; the activities listed below are ongoing and evolving).

Ethiopia

Digitizing Smallholder and Extension Officer Engagement

Mercy Corps AgriFin has partnered with the Agricultural Transformation Agency of Ethiopia (ATA), Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) and CropIn to design, taste and scale multi-channel information and locust location reporting services. This includes dissemination of COVID-19 Desert Locust information through WhatsApp for Business Desert Hotline and the 8028 Farmers Hotline and WhatsApp digital tools.

AgriFin supported ATA to integrate COVID-19 related farmer-friendly content into the 8028 Farmers Hotline. AgriFin support had made critical COVID-19 information available to the 5 million farmers who have access to that 8028 Farmers Hotline. So far, the COVID-19 content has been accessed by 25,000 users. 

ATA, Mercy Corps Ethiopia and Mercy Corps AgriFin have leveraged radio and television to broadcast public service announcements (PSAs) to educate the public to identify desert locusts, understand the impact of desert locusts and deploy best practices to report and control the pests. The radio and television PSAs were broadcasted through 6 national and regional radio and television stations. So far,we have reached approximately 3.4 million smallholders via radio and another 1.6 million smallholder farmers via television. ATA has also trained digital advisors (extension officers) on how to use the 8028 Farmers Hotline and the Desert Locust WhatsApp Hotline to provide information on desert locust observations. Lastly, the ATA has disseminated a set of strategically designed IVR and SMS messages, developed by CABI to reinforce the radio and TV PSAs to 1.4 million smallholders through the 8028 Farmers Hotline.

The ATA has been working with CropIn to finalize its pilot and expand to include an additional 20 woredas (districts) in 2021. During the initial pilot, the ATA and CropIn registered 1,139 clustered farms with 57,385 farmers participating in the farmer scheme. This pilot has enabled the ATA to better understand their farmer clusters, monitor the progress throughout the farming season, and provide guidance when needed based on the information they have collected through the pilot. In 2021, the team plans to triple the number of clusters and farmers registered.

Providing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Gamified Content to Support Public Health Messaging

In partnership with Viamo – Nigeria’s leading IVR channel and Airtel – one of Nigeria’s leading mobile service providers, AgriFin supported the gamification of key hygiene and COVID-19 safe farming messages in Nigeria’s 5 most common languages.

Leveraging existing mobile infrastructure, we aimed to reach over 50,000 farmers via Airtel’s 3-2-1 toll-free service line by communicating information through audio using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, which allows anyone, regardless of literacy level, to access the information which is key for the rural populations. 

The mobile game was designed as a journey that can lead users through choices that reflect decisions that they are likely to take. The tool allows users to hear an explanation of alternative routes for a better outcome if they make mistakes. Further, AgriFin will be able to assess anonymized data on the participants’ journeys for a better understanding of their awareness of hygiene and safe farming in the pandemic. As of November 2020, 27,159 farmers had played the COVID-19 Safe Farming Game of which 41% are women. This promising IVR campaign is likely to reach more farmers and has more impact if monitored over a longer time.

Expanding Ecosystem Research on the Impacts of COVID-19

We are committed to delivering ecosystem learnings that can enhance and build on AgriFin’s capabilities to support business continuity and income sustainability among smallholders, our partners, and other actors during the pandemic. We recently supported a national survey in Kenya by Ipsos-Kenya to gather feedback from agro-dealers across the country on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their businesses. We apply these findings in our partner engagements in order to come up with viable, farmer-centric solutions. This Agro-Dealer Case Study is the first in a series of related upcoming research projects. Learn more here. Recently, we partnered with Busara Center for Behavioral Change to assess our impact on behavioral change for digital channels during an emergency response. Read the impact report here. 

Using a Messaging Platform Hotline to Track Desert Locusts

AgriFin is working with a dynamic group of partners across several initiatives dedicated to desert locust information content development, reporting and tracking in Kenya. Via a new WhatsApp line, farmer communities can easily report desert locusts in their areas and access up-to-date information. With support from the Skoll Foundation, AgriFin partnered with Penn State University and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to create the locust content, while Mediae and Shamba Shape Up are hosting the TV show and WhatsApp line, whose software was developed by Turn.io. Penn State is receiving all of the data reported in via the WhatsApp line and using it to inform research and provide weekly country level maps so that Kenyan farmers know the locusts’ latest locations. Shamba Shape-Up is reaching 5 million rural people with COVID-19 information in a talk show format featuring experts and bespoke video content that can also be shared through social media.

Linking Smallholders to First-Loss Crop Insurance

In collaboration with the World Bank ‘Disruptive Agricultural Technologies (DATs)’ project, AgriFin is supporting agribusinesses to grow their scale, improve their profitability and competitiveness, and address other critical business constraints. We partnered with one of the DAT cohorts, Acre Africa, to support the expansion of insurance to 15 counties in Kenya. Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Acre has pivoted how they market to farmers, using phone-based instead of the field-based acquisition of insurance clients, leveraging bulk messaging and World Bank / County data. This pivot has resulted in reduced costs, increased customer acquisition, and expanded value chain reach. Similarly, in partnership with Pula Advisors, AgriFin is piloting a seed insurance project with Kenya Seed Company in the maize value chain. The acquisition process, which was originally in-person, transitioned to mobile phone-based recruitment and training via text messaging supplemented by a call center facility, with early results showing high uptake and reduction in operational and logistics costs.

Moving Forward with Starbucks

With financial support from The Starbucks Foundation, AgriFin has engaged Producers Direct among other partners to conduct a public COVID-19 information campaign and response for tea and coffee farmers via digital channels. We aim to reach approximately 500,000 tea and coffee smallholder farmers in the next 12 months. The main objectives for this initiative are two-fold. First, to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on coffee and tea farmers in Kenya by increasing knowledge and awareness to achieve more concerted behavior change. At the same time, support sustainable production and inclusion. Second, prepare farmers for COVID-19 vaccine response by strengthening digital channels and content for disseminating critical public health information related to vaccines to tea and coffee farmers. 

The information will be disseminated among the tea and coffee farmer networks of Sireet OEP, Michimikuru and Kiegoi Co-operatives as part of Producers Direct’s FCDO-funded youth engagement project. Other partners include Fairtrade Africa, Rainforest Alliance, Taylors of Harrogate, Falcon, Waitrose and Touton. Eventually, the digitized content will be integrated and accessible via the Government of Kenya’s Open Content Agriculture Hub (supported by the World Bank, GiZ and AgriFin). 

Appreciation

Our COVID-19 / Locust programming has been possible thanks to the continued generous support of Mastercard Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, together with special support from CISCO and the Skoll Foundation.

Mercy Corps Global. Copyright ®2016 – 2025

Mercy Corps Global. Copyright ®2016 – 2023

About Mercy Corps

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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.