Acumen and Lundin Foundation invest in Esoko

Acumen and the Lundin Foundation have announced a $1.5 million aggregate equity and debt investment in Esoko Networks Limited (“Esoko”), a Ghanaian-built technology platform that connects African farmers to markets via mobile phones.

The platform allows various stakeholders, from agribusiness, NGOs, development finance institutions, governments and mobile network operators to profile and provide specific content as well as survey farmers to better understand their needs.

The product enables farmers to receive market prices, offers, climate adaptation advice and agronomic tips that are expected to lead to improvements in yield and increased incomes. It enables businesses to profile farmers, track field activities and transactions, and market their products and services.

“Promoting commercial linkages and introducing market transparency will transform African agriculture,” says Mark Davies, CEO of Esoko, saying “we’re at the forefront of using technology to facilitate this great transformation in human wealth and productivity.”

This investment is intended to support the company’s expansion into Nigeria and East Africa as well as software and services development.

In Nigeria, Esoko has worked with organisations and companies such as International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) and Novus Agro Nigeria, an animal feeding company. Esoko considers Nigeria as an important market and is positioning to scale up its operations in the country.

Godfrey Mwindaare, West Africa director at Acumen, adds: “There are a tremendous amount of resources already focused on small-holder farmers. We see in Esoko the potential to empower and transform the lives of rural farmers by providing one point of access to critical information and services, thereby closing the information asymmetry gap between commercial, well-endowed farmers and the rural, one-acre farmer.”

Anna Samaké, portfolio manager for West and Central Africa for the Lundin Foundation, comments that “one of the Lundin Foundation’s primary objectives in West Africa is to build and support the agri-business sector with an ecosystem of services that will allow sustainable and profitable SMEs to emerge and grow. Many of those services will be available through the Esoko platform.”