News in brief: ThriveAgric provided 514,000 farmers with $100 million financing across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya in 2022. The company plans further expansion in 2023, including planting trees, reaching a million farmers, establishing processing facilities, and entering new markets.
ThriveAgric, a Nigerian agritech startup, reported that it reached 514,000 farmers in 2022 with $100 million financing across three countries: Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. As it highlighted as key details of its 2022 Impact Report, the company said that this number represented a 150.73% increase in reach.
In addition, it upped its women impact by 153.33% and youth impact by 80% in the same year. The startup has now reached a total of 2,900 communities in Africa, increasing the number by 11.54% in 2022. Its community of farmers produced 1.542 million metric tonnes (MT) of grains as well.
Meanwhile, ThriveAgric now owns over 470 storage warehouses for agricultural produce across the continent and its full-time staff increased by 26% to 227 while it employs 1,064 contract staff.
It mentions that it employs strategies like fair labour practices, youth employment, community engagement, women empowerment, access to markets and finance, and food security to ensure positive social impact.
A bulk of the company’s business is till based in its home country, Nigeria, where it runs 450 warehouses accommodating over 225,000 MT of grains. In Ghana, it operates 20 warehouses and does not have a warehousing capacity in Kenya yet, although it just accelerated its expansion into the East African region after raising a funding of $56.4 million in March 2022.
ThriveAgric 2023 expansion plans
ThriveAgric aims to build the largest farmer business network by providing smallholder farmers with access to capital. It also wants to equip them with better agricultural practices and modern farming techniques through advisory, as well as access to market where they sell their produce at competitive prices. By doing this, the company expects smallholder farmers to grow high-yield crops that can take care of Africa’s food need and the rest of the world.
In 2023, the agritech startup plans to plant 20,000 trees, reach a million farmers, grow 2.3 million metric tonnes of grain, and establish two processing facilities. It also plans to start operations in Tanzania, Egypt, and Zambia.
ThriveAgric became the first organisation to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Nigeria Commodity Exchange NCX) to supply agricultural commodities and provide storage facilities. It also won the 2022 Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), which grants it access to the digital payment platform’s clients and a cash proze of $120,000.
In addition, the company partnered with Mercy Corps to reduce post-harvest loss effects on farmers, Heifer International on poultry and insurance projects, OCP group on an indigenous fertiliser blend, and more. The startup leveraged its various partnerships to reach various milestones throughout the year.
