Boost Africa provides early stage capital to startups and innovative companies across Africa, pairing this with technical assistance to fund managers to increase their fundraising and investment capabilities and to entrepreneurs to help them build a pipeline of investor ready businesses that are sustainable long term
Agriculture is one of the most important pillars of Kenya’s economy, and yet farmers, especially small holder ones, continue to face daunting challenges that slow down their productivity and profitability. Top of these challenges are lack of access to affordable but quality farm imputs, constant markets and expert guidance to improve their yields. For decades, these barriers have reduced production among farmers, leading to low earnings and limited growth. Many farmers feel like they’re just matching on the spot, and yet they are the backbone of our country’s food system.
All is not lost though. On any given day, there are efforts to change such situations and one such example is the story of Samuel Munguti – Founder and CEO of Shamba Pride. Shamba pride is a Kenyan company whose driving motivation is to solve the farming challenges just mentioned. Its goal is to bridge the gap between small holder farmers and the essencial resources that they need to thrive. Over the years, the company has built a platform that connects farmers to agrovet shops, markets and sector experts through collaboration, technology and innovation. By digitizing access to agricultural information and inputs, Shamba Pride is changing how farming is done in Kenya.
Shamba Pride’s model is powered by DigiShops, a network of over 4,000 agrovets that serve as a link between farmers and suppliers through digital channels. Farmers are able to make orders directly from their phones for a wide range of products and services, thus saving time and transport costs while still gaining access to trusted, high quality inputs.
Munguti’s quest to empower farmers did not come without challenges, key among them being strong financia bcking and technical expertise to bring his big idea to life. Banks were asking for collateral that he did not have at the time and with no revenue history sufficient for them, he wondered whether there was anyone who understood his early-stage capital needs at all to help him grow his business.
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This is where the European Investment Bank (EIB), through the Boost Africa Initiative came in and transformed his business. Boost Africa is a joint initiative between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) towards empowering African entrepreneurs. The fund aims to unlock the continent’s full potential in attracting private investors and create real investor ready opportunities in communities by supporting early stage businesses to scale, thus driving social and economic transformation across Africa.
The EIB works with close to 200 venture capital/private equity funds across Africa that in turn invest in African startups and high growth businesses. It has so far invested EUR 3.8 billion of its own funds, helping to in turn mobilise EUR 32.4 billion to these funds from other private and public investors, availing more access to alternative financing for African businesses.
In this case, Boost Africa, which is an enhancement of EIB’s already existing work in supporting Africa’s venture capital ecosystem, through Seedstars Africa fund, provided Shamba Pride with initial capital of USD500,000 and this marked a major milestone with remarkle results. Between 2021 and 2024, Shamba Pride’s revenue grew from Ksh 5 million to nearly Ksh 300 million! Additionally, Munguti was able to expand his team from just four employees to 40, improving reach and efficiency. The company currently supports over 80,000 small holder farmers with a network of over 4,000 agrodealsers across the country, and beneficiary farmers report upto 2.5 times rise in productivity.
One of the agrodealers who have benefited from Shamba Pride is Lydia Nzila who says that the transfomation for her has been life changing. Before discovering Shamba Pride, she had to travel long distances to Machakos any time she needed to purchase stock for her shop. This obviously ate into her profits since she had to feature in cost of transport. Now she makes her orders right from her phone and the goods are delivered to her doorstep.
“Business has grown, and I serve more customers efficiently.” she says.
One of Nzila’s regular customers is Veronica Muinde, a farmer who says that she no longer struggles to find genuine farm inputs since she started buying from Nzila’s DigiShop. The high quality inputs and support she gets has improved her yields and made her farm more profitable.
“I always get guidance on the best seeds and fertilizers to use for my crops,” she explains.
Another farmer, Jacob Wambua, says that access to DigiShops saves him time, makes his work easier and he’s more productive. Time saved affords him more opportunity to work on his farm, since all he has to do when he needs supplies is get his phone and go to the app.
These testimonies show how technology is transforming agriculture from the ground up, improving efficiency, and empowering local communities.
For Munguti, he is far from done. He still wishes to scale more so that he can offer even more farmers sustainable growth through the right agricultural tools, imputs and information. “Our work is about empowering farmers to be self-reliant and competitive,” he says. “When farmers win, the entire community wins.”
From the stories above, it is clear that Boost Africa’s involvement in small holder farming is bearing fruit, one farmer at a time. By supporting ventures like Shamba Pride, it is helping create a stronger agricultural ecosystem, with results that go beyond numbers and into more resilient communities and improved livelihoods.
