- Connectez-vous ou inscrivez-vous pour publier un commentaire
Soumis par Yvette Ondachi le ven, 07/07/2017 - 21:20 Permalien
Ojay Greene has observed that female farmers have immense potential to play a pivotal role in the food value chain in Kenya and Africa. This is because they tend to be more organized in regards to conforming to our model which requires smallholder farmers to work together as a farming community in groups.
Most of the female farmers we’ve worked with are beginning to realize the benefits of working together. Together they have collective bargaining power that spurs them on to generate enough income to educate their children. This said, women need more access to financing – stronger links to market and continuous knowledge transfer to make them more productive.
As a female entrepreneur, my biggest barrier being the barrier to financing – I faced broken promises from potential financiers and investors, as well as delayed payments from clients. I observed that an underfinanced company fails to realize its potential and the growth is hampered.
Yvette Ondachi
Soumis par Yvette Ondachi le ven, 07/07/2017 - 20:46 Permalien
I am a female founder of an innovative, dynamic tech enabled agribusiness that has been a showcase of African Success on the global platform. Having our company recently featured on CNN African startup and Yale University's African Business Practicum
Ojay Greene the company I founded and offer leadership works with smallholder farmers using a unique technology platform that I developed to improve their financial inclusion (access to a continuous income stream and enhancing their saving ability making them eligible to access loans). We have achieved some remarkable strides working with women smallholder farmers - with some of the success stories highlighted below:
Despite these milestones, our company is highly underfinanced and is barely realizing the full potential of life transformational impact among smallholder farmers. This in turn impacts negatively on female smallholder farmers as well as the female dropout rate from school due to early marriages.
Ojay Greene should be considered for scale up by AfDB because it will transform the livelihoods and financial status of women.
Many thanks
Yvette Ondachi
Founder & Managing Director
Ojay Greene
Cell: +254 711 452 819
Recently featured on CNN African Start-Up
Use the following link to watch the story on CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/08/03/african-start-up-ojay-greene-spc.cnn
Financing mechanisms
Soumis par Yvette Ondachi le lun, 24/07/2017 - 11:56 Permalien
The financing mechanisms that could improve women's access to agricultural finance is one like the one used by Ojay Greene - the company I founded.
It is an input financing model.
In this model- we identify a profitable value chain and ensure that we have offtakers for the end product.
A business case is created on the cost of inputs required per farmer as well as the expected yield and the proposed selling price the farmer should offer. Example - the inputs cost $200 and farmers are expected to produce 2tons of tomatoes selling at $0.5 per kg. The farmer's expected income is $1000. This means that the farmer can repay the inputs back with 10% interest remaining with $780 per season.
In this scenario, the farmer is not given actual cash money, rather they receive the inputs (seed, feed and crop protection). The company agronomist makes scheduled visits to the farms and establishes that the farmers receive their inputs when needed. They also give farmers advisory services on how to optimize production. When the crop cycle is ready, the company coordinates with the farmers a collection schedule. We then aggregate the produce, supply to outlets and pay the farmers. The input costs are recovered from the farmers during payment. Group crop insurance is taken once the business case has been ratified. this mitigates the risk of crop failure and in the event of crop failure, the input costs are recovered. It is noteworthy that the engagement between Ojay Greene - our company and smallholder farmers is contractual with each parties obligations being very clear.
Such a model has proved effective to improve women's access to finance. Additional capacity building offered involves - financial literacy modules- how to strengthen saving models through table banking and how to become more bankable as their farming enterprises grow.
Regards
Yvette Ondachi
Founder & Managing Director
Ojay Greene