From “What if?” to... Launch of EcoFarmerAI!
Strive Masiyiwa
Image credit: KWB - Ubuntu Hope via Google Gemini Nano Banana Pro // Strive Masiyiwa Social Media (Facebook)
I remember being in rural Kenya about 15 years ago, visiting smallholder farmers in my capacity as chairman of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). I was interested in how farmers shared information about prices for their produce... or did NOT share, as the case may be.
Traders they sold to could be unscrupulous, if they thought farmers did not know what to charge!
"What if there was a digital way to share this information?" I asked myself.
This was long before smartphones! Back from the trip, I began to code a simple platform. In those days, we didn't yet have the technology used in building apps, so we used something called USSD, which is a bit clunky.
I then gave my ideas to a professional team of developers at our company. This is really how we first developed EcoFarmer in Zimbabwe. The service is not free, of course; we are a business.
So far, more than 1.5 million smallholder farmers now pay a monthly subscription for information about everything from farming methods to timing to sow seeds for best results.
Designed with the help of agricultural extension experts, EcoFarmer 1.0 was a simple digital platform. It's very popular, but we wanted to do more. When our farmers harvest more, they earn more. That is what we are working towards.
Fast forward:
During the past 12 months, our AI team has been developing an “analytical AI” version of EcoFarmer. First, it had to ingest a lot of [credible, high-quality] data on Zimbabwe’s agriculture and farming practices. This data-gathering process was built on our knowledge from the years helping farmers with EcoFarmer.
Then the “beta” was released to 10,000 Zimbabwean farmers who have been quietly trying it out and giving feedback to our teams who then “train” the AI model by feeding the new insights and observations [data] shared by the farmers. This is the #Process to help improve the AI platform’s accuracy and relevance.
Now for the #BreakingNews!
EcoFarmerAI will be formally launched in Zimbabwe in early January. As of this week, you can access the Android version on the Google Play Store and start experimenting with it for free.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details...
Just to give you an example of its capabilities: a farmer with a Smartphone can take a picture of a plant and in a matter of seconds, it's not only able to identify the crop; it can also tell the farmer if the plant has a disease. It can also offer advice on how to best manage the disease!
Just like a school timetable, a farmer can also use EcoFarmerAI to access a crop-specific calendar that lists daily tasks such as watering, fertilizing, or pest control.
This way, Zimbabwean farmers, like those who grow maize in Guruve or tobacco in Karoi, always have access to information to help them know the right steps to take for a healthy harvest.
By now you can see that EcoFarmerAI is designed to be a farmer’s "Special Advisor" and #ThoughtPartner. It will also help government extension services working with smallholder farmers.
Eventually, EcoFarmerAI will be fully “Agentic”. This means it will not just be able to “advise”... It will also do things like source farm inputs [location, best prices] and comparative market information [the going prices for a farmer’s crops and related data]. It will also share warnings about new diseases or other concerns impacting the specific farming district.
Now let’s re-examine our lessons so far:
#Innovation + Marketing - Cost = Profit
#Product
#People
#Process
Seeing the needs, the opportunities, and the powers of AI... I simply used #Innovation to create a unique #Solution, building a #Product for Zimbabwe [that will be scalable to other places over time].
In the #Process of building the model and learning from #BestPractices everywhere, we found Digital Green, our social enterprise partner I told you about a few weeks ago. Our tech #People shared experiences with theirs who had done similar work in India.
Yes, I love agriculture, but I actually have no farming skills, which is why I don’t run around trying to do it myself. I make my money from and with farmers. I look for opportunities using the skills that I do have, and this is a classic example.
Together we prosper.
#WhatIf?
#SolutionSeekers
#BuildingProsperityTogether
3 Key Business Lessons
Identifying gaps in information flow within a market can lead to innovative business solutions. Strive Masiyiwa's experience with smallholder farmers in Kenya highlighted the lack of transparent pricing information, showcasing a critical need that can be addressed through technology. Entrepreneurs should actively seek out inefficiencies in their industries and consider how digital platforms or solutions can bridge these gaps, ultimately creating value for the end user while generating a profitable business model.
Leveraging collaboration and expertise is essential for developing a successful product. The evolution of EcoFarmer from a basic platform to an advanced AI-driven tool demonstrates the importance of combining insights from various stakeholders, including agricultural extension experts and developers. Business leaders should prioritize building partnerships and fostering collaborative environments that bring together different skill sets, enhancing their product's effectiveness and market readiness.
Continuous feedback and iteration are crucial for refining products or services. The beta testing phase of EcoFarmerAI, which involved active participation from farmers to provide insights and feedback, exemplifies how iterative processes can improve accuracy and relevance. Businesses should implement systems for gathering user feedback regularly and use this information to adapt and enhance their offerings, ensuring they meet the real needs of their customers effectively.
Afterthoughts
“If you want to be successful, identify a human need and reach out to solve it”. -T.L. Osborn
I wish I could put this on the gate of every school and university in Africa.
#InYourHand with #GameChanging knowledge, updates, and advice, EcoFarmerAI provides information based on the farmer’s actual location, current rainfall patterns, and agro-ecological zone to help him or her make decisions on:
#Crop selection
#Planting schedules
#Soil preparation
#Pest and disease management
It will even be able to help farmers design and evaluate financial solutions [like loans and insurance], just to mention a few.
By the way, this service has nothing to do with my ownership of a mobile network, though we did use it to drive our #Process. We can easily work with a mobile player in any market!
If I were a younger entrepreneur, I would have entered our annual GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize competition with EcoFarmer.
Almost any Agripreneur-led #Product can be #ReImagined using AI!
Did any of you see that one of our GoGettaz alums from 2021, Diana Orembe, was announced the grand prize winner of the 2025 Africa Business Heroes [ABH] competition last week?! In 2020 she co-founded NovFeed, an #Innovative biotech company that converts organic waste into high-quality protein [aquaculture] and organic fertilizer [farming].
Whilst our GoGettaz competition is only open to agrifood entrepreneurs, ABH is open to African founders of all industries and ages. And this year an agtech #Solution won!
Wow! Congratulation to Diana, and the other two GoGettaz alumni agripreneur founders, Baraka Chijenga [founder of Kilimo Fresh Foods Africa, an agritech business supporting food security] and Siny Samba [founder of Le Lionceau, a food technology and infant nutrition company] who were also named to ABH's top 10. All of them are winners.
https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/31974/news/featured/innovation-who-are-the-biggest-winners-at-africas-business-heroes-awards-2025yO4bhgAzZO3yPNeel2pxy7UhWEJ0Wz4adVkjp_aem_k63S0xEpB4BxVT2osz79Pg
After years of fast expansion and billion-dollar bets, 2026 may mark the moment artificial intelligence confronts its actual utility. In their predictions for the next year, Stanford faculty across computer science, medicine, law, and economics converge on a striking theme:
The era of AI evangelism is giving way to an era of AI evaluation. Whether it’s standardized benchmarks for legal reasoning, real-time dashboards tracking labor displacement, or clinical frameworks for vetting the flood of medical AI startups, the coming year demands rigor over hype.
The question is no longer 'Can AI do this?' but 'How well, at what cost, and for whom?'...
As you are imagining "What If's" in your own industry and community, a new report released this week will provide important food for thought from a highly credible source:
https://hai.stanford.edu/news/stanford-ai-experts-predict-what-will-happen-in-2026
How do we #Scale this to other African countries?
It’s a step-by-step #Process.
We have already identified a number of countries to start with. We will then #Train and #FineTune our AI model, using local farming information and insights [data]. The platform actually uses GPUs.
Each step needs investment in #People and #Process.
We have to make sure that our business models are not only sustainable but ultimately profitable because we are a business. And a business that is not profitable cannot grow [I shouldn’t have to tell you guys that!]
I could have easily told you about Liquid MineTech, a group that develops products for the mining industry. Or I could have told you about our work with fishermen on Lake Victoria!
The opportunity is best served by FIRST acquiring a specialised #Skill. Even if you are a barber or hairdresser, you can apply #Innovation to it, starting today!
And yes, even AI ! #SkillUp!
Jack Ma was an English language teacher in China who travelled to America to improve his language skills. Whilst he was there in the early 2000s, he learnt about a company called Yahoo.
His response was, “Why can’t we do this in China?” As he explained it to me many years later, it ignited his “entrepreneurial fire!”
He didn't just "use" the emerging Internet for fun or as a consumer. He #Studied the Internet, and mobilized his own team back home. The e-commerce company he co-founded, Alibaba, is one of the largest in the world today!
This story is found in the journey of most entrepreneurs: They are inspired to #Do something. Jack did not take to social media to complain about why the government, or some other unnamed people, had not done anything.
He did not say to himself, “I’m not an engineer, so what can I do?!” Or “My father is not a big guy in government, who can support me?!” Or, "Where can I get the money to start?!”
The key is to start with whatever is in YOUR hand, however small or inconsequential you think it is. Just get started.
Throughout the world right now, there are countless young entrepreneurs developing solutions using AI.
Even if you don’t know how to start something, you can reach out to some of these guys and offer to work with them for your own African market. You will be surprised how many will respond positively.
“Don’t fear from a distance!” as my mother always says. What have you got to lose if you get 100 negative answers? Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!
But one positive answer is everything!
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