So, as of now, you must know what Imfuyo does, right? Sorry let’s back up I thought all of us already know what we do…
Imfuyo, formerly known as Lofte Kesho is an award-winning agri-fintech organization that focuses on the creation of peace of mind for smallholder livestock farmers in Africa and specifically in Kenya
We use technology to improve the farmers’ livelihoods by unlocking financial services such as livestock insurance and capital against the livestock as an asset. We don’t stop there as we use our technology to create farmer-livestock profiles that enable an analysis of the health, production, and nutrition of the asset or rather the livestock
Now that you know what we do, could we move on already?
So here’s the fun part of the business – farmer stories from the farms
Listen, our core mandate is data collection which is a fancy word for education, training, and campaigns. We have offered our services to farmers across counties such as Nyeri, Makueni, Kiambu, Muranga, and Narok
We train farmers, dairy/beef cooperatives, common interest groups, farmer groups, and community-based organizations
Imfuyo team and partners training farmers
Arguably the most interesting customer on earth has to be a farmer
First, most farmers or should I say, genuine farmers, are found in the rural parts of the country where the office concept and mind are “non-existent”
I say genuine farmers as most of our friends in the cities claim to be farmers but our partner, Mr. Gavana, James Gathumbi the CEO of Mukulima Bingwa – Lead Farmers calls them, Telephone farmers
A true farmer is a TRUE farmer, if you know, you know…
Now, let’s start you off with only one story from the farm with yours truly, Wanjohi Njathi
Some time back, we paid a courtesy call to a Nyeri farmer co-operative, a training institute, and by extension a prominent farmer in one of the sub-counties
After the “board-like meetings and training” with the cooperative and the training institute we headed to one of the farmer’s compounds to train and tag the cows, do valuations, collect data and make an analysis of the fitness of the asset with the assistance of our veterinary officer
Oh, men! Farmers must be the most hospitable customers ever
We get to the compound with our quick mindset of providing the Imfuyo package and leave back to the office as time is money…
This farmer and his neighbors were all waiting for us and to make it even sweeter more neighbors joined the compound with a deep interest in knowing what we had to offer
We intended to get in, provide our services as agreed, and leave, simple right? Nope!
Mr. Farmer was too hospitable! Unlike our internet-driven urban cities customers, this farmer at this stage deserves to be called OUR Farmer as he had prepared some good Kenyan traditional Mukimo meal and some fresh yet warm milk straight from his cows
He had also gathered several groceries for us to leave with and two of his neighbors also offered us bananas and kale for us to go back with to the city
The goodies given to us by an Imfuyo farmer
Show me a more hospitable customer in the World. Just mention one in our context
We ended up having a party-like meeting where jars of milk would circulate across our team, the farmers, and our partners present
Milk collection exercise at an Imfuyo’s customer’s farm
For a second we felt at home and forgot our core mandate as, after the meal, some hot tea was served in plenty and accompanied by some fresh bananas from the farm
Now that our tummies were full we proceeded to the cow sheds and did our thing
Imfuyo veterinary officer tagging a cow
At that time the farmer had 9 cows and 30 pigs and 1,000 chickens and as of now he has 20 cows all tagged, valued, and insured. He is currently servicing a loan facility to grow his livestock business to 50 cows by December 2023
One of the cows tagged in the farm
There is nobility in training a farmer, exposing the farmer to financial services, and just making the farmer feel like a friend and that he is not forgotten
Farmers feed nations every day, it is their efforts, love, and dedication to farming that keeps us going. As we always say, if agriculture fails, everything else will fail
You see, our farmers all over the country feel neglected by almost everyone within the whole value chain. Players and stakeholders that should ideally be present for the farmer’s success have disappeared over the years leaving farmers to find practical solutions to their problems
Our inspiration comes from farmers who need a supportive eco-system to grow their enterprises, unlock markets and make money
We welcome partnerships and investments to support our programs across Africa