Farmcrowdy Wins Digital Business of the Year Award

Vincent Obia

Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform, Farmcrowdy, has been named winner of the 2018 Digital Business of the year award in Africa. The award was given at the annual Global African Business Awards (GABA) ceremony in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Launched in 2017, GABA, the world’s premier annual business award was created to celebrate, appreciate, and highlight the achievements and positive contributions of organisations and working professionals in the continent.

Other nominees for the award included e-commerce platforms – Konga, Jumia, Zando, Dressmeoutlet, Mall for Africa, and Dealdey – WeFarm, the world’s largest farmer-to-farmer digital network; Interswitch Payment Gateway; and Delvv.io, South Africa’s branding and refinement partners.

The founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy, Onyeka Akumah, said, “We are honoured to have our hard work aimed at impacting on the lives of rural farmers recognised.

“We are delighted about the great opportunities ahead of us as we continually strive to remain at the forefront of technological innovation in agriculture across Nigeria and eventually the continent of Africa.”

With a team of 35, Farmcrowdy has, in the last 20 months, empowered over 7,000 direct and indirect rural farmers. It has given thousands of farm sponsors a platform to participate in agriculture from their computers or mobile phones in order to make profit at harvest.

The platform has planted maize, rice, and cassava on over 8,000 acres of farmland in less than two years and raised close to 600,000 chickens to boost food production in the country.

Farmcrowdy has also raised $1.4 million in seed funding from local and international investors, including Cox Enterprises, Social Capital, Techstars Ventures, and most recently, won a grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovator Fund. So far, the funds have given the leading startup the potency to extend its operations to 10 states in Nigeria with plans for more expansion across more states and regions.

Farmcrowdy was adjudged “Agro-Innovator of the Year 2016/2017” by the Nigerian Agriculture Awards, and it was listed as one of the top innovative companies and institutions in Nigeria.