Nigeria’s young squad could learn a thing or two from agritech startup Farmcrowdy

After Nigeria’s poor showing in their first Group D match with Croatia, The Super Eagles can ill-afford to lose this afternoon’s game with Iceland. The country has the youngest squad at the tournament, but that shouldn’t stop them from doing well.

In fact, the football team should take a leaf out of Farmcrowdy’s book. Despite being only two-years old, the Lagos-based agritech startup is already racking in funding, accolades and awards from not only Nigeria, but around the world.

The startup was founded in 2016 by CEO Onyeka Akumah, CFO Akindele Phillips, COO Tope Omotolani, CTO Jimoh Maiyegun, and vice president for products and data Ifeanyi Anazodo.

Farmcrowdy has raised over $1.3-million in funding since launching two years ago

Farmcrowdy connects farm sponsors to farmers in a bid to increase high-quality food production. The startup does this by using sponsors’ funds to secure land, buy implements, and to insure farmers as well as their produce.

On completing the full farming cycle, Farmcrowdy sells the harvest and then pays the sponsor a share of the profit after harvest (in addition to their initial investment). Farm sponsors can receive between six to 25% returns on their sponsorship.

Through Farmcrowdy’s platform, sponsors can track progress at the farms via text, pictures and videos. The startup claims that since launch it has assisted over 3000 farmers to expand operations and increase their revenue.

Earlier this year, Farmcrowdy received a US$350 000 grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund. The agritech startup has also been nominated in the Digital Business of the Year category at this year’s Global African Business Awards.

Only a year after its launch, the startup raised a $1-million round from investors that included Techstars, Cox Ventures, and Social Capital. Earlier on in 2017, Farmcrowdy was the only African startup selected to participate at Techstars Atlanta.

Some pundits have attributed Nigeria’s loss to Croatia to the young squad’s relative inexperience. Hopefully the team can prove them wrong when they march out in that most beautiful of kits. Kick off is at 5pm Central African time.

This piece, harbouring the spirit of the World Cup, is part of a 12-part series in which Ventureburn aims to draw attention to and celebrate African innovation and African startups.

African results so far:

Egypt 0-1 Uruguay (Group A, 15 June)
Morocco 0-1 Iran (Group B, 15 June)
Nigeria 0-2 Croatia (Group C, 16 June)
Tunisia 1-2 England (Group G, 18 June)
Senegal 2-1 Poland (Group H, 19 June)
Egypt 1-3 Russia (Group A, 19 June)
Morocco 0-1 Portugal (Group B, 20 June)

Read more: Morocco will need to be innovative like startup Hooplacar to shock Portugal
Read more: Can Egypt help Africa save face? This savings platform could show them how
Read more: Will the Teranga Lions roar and dominate like Senegalese startup CoinAfrique?
Read more: Can Tunisia haul a win? Meet the logistics marketplace that could inspire them
Read more: As the Atlas Lions march into battle, learn how MedTrucks is disrupting healthcare
Read more: Ahead of the Pharoahs’ Group A match, meet Egyptian healthtech Vezeeta
Read more: This is how Ventureburn will celebrate African tech startups this World Cup

Featured image: Farmcrowdy founders Farmcrowdy via Facebook