Growsel, award-winning non-profit agricultural crowdfunding organization has received a software donation from Oracle NetSuite Social Impact for its social impact programme.
With the strength of NetSuite, Growsel will be able to operate more efficiently, freeing up resources to help it focus on its core mission of connecting underserved smallholder farmers with lenders around the world.
“The NetSuite Social Impact software donation will surely help us cut down our administrative overhead, considering our lending portfolio which is growing rapidly, just like our community of smallholder farmers that are being administered around the world,” Jerry Oche, founder and chief executive officer of Growsel Microfunds Inc. said in a statement made available to BusinessDay.
Growsel, since inception has facilitated the connection of more than 200 smallholder farmers and over 1300 lenders, while profiling and verifying about 1.2 million of them for crowdfunding through its field partners in remote communities, particularly in West Africa economies.
In pursuit of its mission of changing lives, creating opportunities by connecting smallholder farmers with lenders around the globe in a bid to alleviate poverty, Growsel has empowers millions of smallholder farmers in developing economies, working with the assistance of local field partners and trustees.
Currently, Growsel has selected Oracle NetSuite to support its fast-growing need for a comprehensive and cloud-based international Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.
The organisation will utilize Oracle NetSuite to automate many of its day-to-day business tasks, reporting and accounting needs.
Through the comprehensive ERP platform, Growsel will have the ability to expedite the entry and validation of expense reports for dozens of globetrotting employees; add automation and efficiency to the organization’s lending and expense categorization, as well as access tools with greater reporting and analytics capabilities.
According to the statement, previously time-consuming tasks will be streamlined to greatly reduce time spent on reporting by staff.
Growsel will be able to better manage its internal processes on a departmental basis, while also providing a secondary view to donor and lenders of the organization. With tools and features that obtain lending funds, borrowers request and operating budget status at a glance.
Speaking during the donation, David Geilhufe, senior director and social impact leader NetSuite said “we value the work Growsel is doing to create a lasting change in the agricultural community.”
“For over 10 years we have aimed to help more organizations do good, better. It’s through donations like these that we hope the NetSuite platform will empower organizations like Growsel to take its mission further,” Geilhufe said.
Growsel emerged 2018 winner of the Visa Everywhere Initiative Award for financial inclusion in the Sub Saharan Africa edition.
Josephine Okojie
