Winich Farms, a Nigerian Agtech startup making the supply chain of farm produce seamless for all stakeholders, has secured US$3 million in pre-series A funding to enhance its technology and optimize its operations. The round is a mix of equity and debt.

The equity funding of US$2.5 million came from Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (a East and West Africa focused impact venture capital fund ), Climate Resilient Africa Fund, Marula Square, Plug and Play, and Tekedia Capital. Lagos-based Sahel Capital supplied the $590,000 debt funding.

Since launching in 2020, Winich Farms has built an ecosystem of more than 150,000 users, including farmers, off-takers (small businesses and factories), logistics partners, and collection points agents. The company provides off-takers with inventory management tools that help them order and manage raw materials from farmers across Nigeria.

This is possible through the thousands of farm produce collection points that Winichfarm has accumulated across 30 out of the 36 states in Nigeria.

Back in the day, farmers had to wait for market days — sometimes every two weeks or even once a month — just to sell their produce. It left them in a tough spot, often relying on middlemen who took advantage of their desperation. But now, thanks to this company, they can sell whenever they want.

All they have to do is drop their produce at the nearest collection point, and they get paid within 48 hours. From there, the produce is gathered and shipped to off-takers. With geo-zone technology, Winich Farms ensures orders are fulfilled from the closest collection points, making deliveries quicker. For instance, buyers in Lagos get their orders from farmers in nearby Ogun or Osun states, cutting down delivery time.

The company is also helping smallholder farmers, who don’t have immediate access to the financial system, build their credit worthiness, by tracking and ranking their earnings over time and then connecting them to its financial institution partners.

It recently launched a debit card in partnership with Sterling Bank, allowing farmers to save their funds in the bank with the certainty that they could get it whenever they want.

The company’s GMV has grown 300% from US$10 million in 2022 to US$30 million at the end of the 2023 financial year. Last month, the company expanded into Tanzania to facilitate — not just local supply chains — but exportation into the Middle East and Europe.

Richies Attai, CEO and co-founder, said, “For us, Winich Farms is more than just a profit oriented business, but a cause at heart improving the lives of smallholder farmers, informal processors, and retailers who puts food on our tables daily but have been largely marginalized.

This funding is strategic towards further enhancing our technology infrastructure making it more user friendly, while advancing our data driven approach in enhancing the farmers ability to access financially inclusive services like credit and insurance to increase productivity, while scaling operations to accommodate our expansion plans.”

Tamer El-Raghy, Managing Director of Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF), said: “We are excited to partner with Winich Farms as their solution addresses a critical need for rural farmers in Nigeria by facilitating efficient market access Smallholder farmers face multiple bottlenecks along the value chain, limiting their productivity and access to markets, which in turn hinders their income potential and growth.

Winich’s technology not only connects rural farmers directly to buyers, it also connects them to financial products, towards providing them with access financing to facilitate increased production capacity.  Investing in Winich aligns with our goal at ARAF of growing local businesses that support smallholder farmers towards increased productivity, sustainable agricultural development, better livelihoods, and increased food security”

Sherief Kesseba, Partner at Climate Resilient Africa Fund (CRAF), said: “We warmly welcome Winich Farms to CRAF’s portfolio. Winich connects smallholder Nigerian farmers to two things they desperately struggle to access: finance and end-markets. With a tech-enabled, Capex-light model driving efficient growth, we believe Winich will generate growth, and enhance climate resilience for farmers.”

Stefano Olcese, Plug and Play Tech Center, said: “The marketplace category in agtech has attracted the highest levels of capital in developing countries over the past few years. Winich Farms stood out as the top investment opportunity to us, successfully addressing the ‘middlemen problem’ by delivering value to both consumers and smallholder farmers.”

Biola Alabi, Partner at Acacia Ventures, said: “Winich Farms operates at the intersection of agritech and financial inclusion, which is why it perfectly aligns with our investment thesis and why we invested in them” General Partner at Acasia Ventures Biola Alabi says.

“With Riches’ deep-rooted personal connection to smallholder farmers, Chichebem’s technical expertise, and Winner’s operational experience, they offer a powerful combination. Their experience as second-time founders in this space further demonstrates their commitment to overcoming challenges and building a sustainable business.”

Elvira De Jong, Partner at Marula Square, said: “We invested in Winich Farms because of the strength and vision of their exceptional leadership team, whose deep expertise and passion for sustainable agriculture align with our values.

Their innovative approach to modernizing farming practices shows immense impact potential, particularly in improving food security and empowering local farmers. With a scalable business model and growing demand in the markets, Winich Farms offers not only a compelling opportunity to generate meaningful social and environmental change but also substantial financial upside for investors.”

Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director-General (DG) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has called for government officials to face consequences for implementing policies that devastate businesses and disrupt the economy.

Speaking during a forum themed ‘Nigeria’s Challenging Economy: Strategies for Recovery,’ organized by Channels Television in celebration of Nigeria’s 64th Independence anniversary, Ajayi-Kadir underscored the need for accountability within the government.

“There must be consequences for government officials who make policies that ruin businesses,” Ajayi-Kadir stressed. “I mean, you make a policy today, it becomes a disaster for industry, and government simply changes it, and you walk away. We don’t have this luxury in the private sector. If you make a mistake, your business is gone, and you could distrain your property. So, I think we need to see that movement also on the part of government.”

Ajayi-Kadir’s remarks resonate with a growing belief among Nigerians that policymakers act recklessly because they face no accountability for the economic damage their decisions often cause. Many have argued that the country’s policymakers are shielded from the consequences of their actions, unlike in the private sector where poor decisions are met with consequences.

Comparing the private and public sectors, it is believed that the former thrives and the latter deteriorates due to their different approaches to policymaking.

Interest Rates, Stifling Businesses and Productivity

Ajayi-Kadir also voiced concerns about the persistently high interest rates in Nigeria, which have made borrowing increasingly expensive for businesses. He described the rising interest rates, currently between 30-35%, as unsustainable, particularly in an economy where consumer purchasing power has been eroded by inflation, unemployment, and stagnant wages.

According to Ajayi-Kadir, many businesses are finding it nearly impossible to survive in such an environment.

“We should be able to assuage the challenges we are having with continuously raising interest rates,” he said. “You’ve done it for more than 18 months plus, and you’ve not done any impact assessment on the productive sector. I think you need to be able to insulate that sector so that you can inflate the economy.”

The ongoing increases in the monetary policy rate (MPR) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are part of efforts to curb inflation, but Ajayi-Kadir noted that the CBN’s approach is undermining the productive sector. He pointed out that despite over 18 months of these rate hikes, there has been no comprehensive evaluation of their impact on the manufacturing sector or the broader economy.

The lack of impact assessments, according to the DG, is indicative of the disconnect between policy formulation and real-world business needs.

The Need for a Coordinated Industrial Policy

Beyond interest rates, Ajayi-Kadir highlighted the absence of a clear and consistent industrial policy to guide Nigeria’s economic recovery. He called for the development of a robust industrial policy that would provide long-term direction for the country’s industrialization efforts.

“There’s a need for an industrial policy to guide the government’s approach to industrialization,” he said.

According to the DG, such a policy would promote better coordination between key government ministries, including the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, and the CBN.

“I must say that policy coordination is extremely important for us because you can’t operate in such a way that you don’t know what to expect tomorrow. It will basically define where we want to be, and it will guide our operations,” he said.

Ajayi-Kadir’s comments reflect broader concerns in Nigeria’s business community about the unpredictable nature of government policies, which frequently change without warning, causing disruption and uncertainty in the marketplace.

For instance, in early 2020, the Lagos State government abruptly announced the ban on Bike-hailing startups, Gokada, ORide, MaxNG, and other commercial motorcycles (okada). The ban also affects Keke Napep (tricycle) operators within the state.

The decision eventually stifled the bike-hailing idea, which had made commuting in the state’s wild traffic easier, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in investors.

Ajayi-Kadir argued that improved coordination between government ministries and agencies would prevent the kind of policy flip-flopping that has hurt businesses in the past.

Ineffective Nigerian Embassies and Lack of Economic Diplomacy

Another issue Ajayi-Kadir raised was the ineffectiveness of Nigeria’s embassies abroad in promoting Nigerian businesses and attracting foreign investments. He criticized the country’s embassies for not doing enough to facilitate market penetration for Nigerian products in foreign markets.

“There needs to be key performance indicators (KPIs) for our embassies to track their effectiveness in helping Nigerian products reach foreign markets and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Nigeria,” he said.

Ajayi-Kadir emphasized that embassies should play a crucial role in economic diplomacy, helping to forge international partnerships that would boost Nigerian industries and increase the country’s foreign exchange (FX) inflows. However, without clear KPIs and accountability measures, embassies have largely failed to fulfill these roles.

While commending Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, for his efforts to stabilize Nigeria’s economy, Ajayi-Kadir urged the government to avoid playing politics with economic policies. He called for a more deliberate and coordinated approach to policymaking.

California bans the biggest affirmative action in America. Yes, you are used to those court cases where people argue that black kids, latino kids, etc should not be admitted in universities when there are other more qualified Asian and white kids ahead of them. Even the Supreme Court ruled that “race” cannot evidently be used for admission purposes. Fair game!

Personally, I support affirmative action and I support the thesis that minorities in America (not immigrants like me) deserve an accommodation because if you do check data, the admission system is not that fair. What do I mean? Obama was rumoured to have gotten into Harvard Law via affirmative action, but he graduated top 10% of his class, and served as the president of the law review there.

In other words, any system which will not discover a student, who then needs special help to get in, and end up becoming one of the best graduating students is defective and cannot be relied upon. So, if indeed Obama needed help and ended up among the best, how can you argue that affirmative action is not necessary to fix the discriminatory systems built over centuries in the admission processes?

They do not care but have continued to support “affirmative wealth” where elite universities admit children of the rich and famous without competition. So, these fighters are happy when “race” is replaced with “wealth”. But there is good news because California has made it illegal: “It will soon be illegal for public and private universities in California to consider an applicant’s relationship to alumni or donors when deciding whether to admit them.”

Understand that more students are admitted based on “wealth” than “race”: “Self-reported numbers showed that in 2022, USC admitted the highest percentage of students with legacy and donor ties of any California university, 14.4 percent. It was followed by Stanford and Santa Clara, where those numbers were 13.8 percent and 13.1 percent respectively.”

But few care, rather, they want to beat down the latino or black kid on campus because 5% of them are on campus.  Of course many are not happy with this decision, including those who do not support the use of race in admission. I tell them as they say in Nigeria: go to court!