FFA impact story

Financial inclusion for farmers

Winich Farms enables food producers to connect directly with informal processors and retail groups. It is designed to overstep the long chain of middlemen that food producers often deal with to access markets. Additionally, Winich addresses the high cost of setup of traditional banks and micro-lending institutions that often excludes farmers and food producers from financial services like credit and insurance.

Winich’s platform democratises market access while enabling producers and processors to build credit scores that improve access to financially inclusive services. Winich is part of Founders Factory Africa’s (FFA) agtech portfolio, benefitting from financial backing as well as FFA’s acceleration and scaling expertise.

When Winich joined FFA, it was having a pain point around payments that was posing a threat to its growth. Winich paid farmers in cash, and its agents were reporting more and more robberies as the company grew. Winich needed a more secure way to pay farmers. The use of apps or mobile text were ruled out due to literacy challenges. The solution: a partnership with Sterling Bank to provide debit cards for farmers.

Winich received the debit cards for farmers at zero cost from Sterling Bank. FFA’s product team helped Winich scope out the solution, while its partnerships team helped secure the deal. These debit cards enable instant, secure payment to smallholder farmers, while also improving their credit rating.

Additionally, the FFA growth team helped Winich better track crop supply data by location, improving efficiency.

Reflecting on the development of the new debit card system, co-founder of Winich Riches Attai said, “We already have robust knowledge on how smallholder farmers earn through our market connection product (Winich Inventory Manager); now we can have a clearer picture backed by data on their spending patterns and much more.”