Africa’s agritech sector is booming and is fueled by visionary founders who leverage technology to solve pressing agricultural challenges. These leaders empower farmers, enhance food security, and drive sustainability across the continent. Below, we spotlight the founders behind the ten fast-growing agritech startups in Africa highlighted in this article.
Pullus Africa – Opeoluwa Fayomi and Abisoye Odeyemi
At the helm of Pullus Africa, Nigeria’s first poultry-exclusive supply chain platform, are Opeoluwa Fayomi and Abisoye Odeyemi, two innovators who are blending agricultural expertise with technology to reshape the country’s poultry sector.
Opeoluwa Fayomi – Co-founder & CEO
Source: LinkedIn
A seasoned agribusiness strategist, Opeoluwa Fayomi has spent over a decade driving investments, fostering sustainability, and enhancing food security in Nigeria’s agricultural landscape. Her work in agribusiness development includes facilitating over $197 million in financing for agribusinesses while managing USAID’s Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity.
Before co-founding Pullus Africa, she launched Plethora Agro, a social enterprise that trained over 2,000 farmers and agripreneurs in large-scale greenhouse vegetable production. With an lpMBA from the Nigerian Defence Academy and a postgraduate degree in Project Management from Humber College, she brings a wealth of experience bridging gaps between finance, policy, and agricultural technology.
Abisoye Odeyemi – Co-founder & CTO
Source: Pullus Africa
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With over 20 years of experience in software development, Abisoye Odeyemi is the technical force behind Pullus Africa’s seamless operations. A full-stack web developer with a deep understanding of graphic design and software architecture, he specialises in front-end technologies (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript) and back-end frameworks like PHP, MySQL, and Laravel.
Having worked in startups and established corporations, Odeyemi excels at leading and mentoring development teams and ensuring that technology aligns with business goals. His ability to merge aesthetics with functionality has been instrumental in creating intuitive, user-friendly digital solutions for the poultry supply chain.
Apollo Agriculture – Eli Pollak
Eli Pollak is the founder and CEO of Apollo Agriculture, a data-driven agritech startup transforming small-scale farming in Africa. His journey into agriculture began with a deep interest in climate change and engineering. Initially set on pursuing a PhD in energy hardware, he shifted gears after developing a passion for software and its potential to drive large-scale impact.
His career took off at WeatherBill—later rebranded as The Climate Corporation—where he contributed to expanding its reach across more than 70 million acres. His work there fueled his fascination with agriculture, particularly its role in tackling climate change and its lag in leveraging data and software compared to other industries.
During his time at The Climate Corporation, Eli recognised a gap. While precision agriculture was helping U.S. farmers increase yields by a few percentage points, many smallholder farmers in Africa were producing just a fraction of their potential. He envisioned a solution that could empower these farmers to double, triple, or even quadruple their yields.
That vision led to the creation of Apollo Agriculture. Eli co-founded the company with Ben and Earl—his former colleagues from The Climate Corporation—who shared his belief in the transformative power of data and technology in agriculture. Together, they built Apollo to provide smallholder farmers with the financing, inputs, and advisory services needed to maximise productivity and profitability.
Under his leadership, Apollo Agriculture continues to bridge the gap between advanced agricultural solutions and small-scale farmers, fostering a new era of precision-driven, sustainable farming in Africa.
AkoFresh – Mathias Charles Yabe
Source: Mission 300
Mathias Charles Yabe is a Ghanaian social entrepreneur and innovator dedicated to driving social impact in agriculture, education, and climate resilience. As the Founder and CEO of AkoFresh, he leads an agritech startup tackling post-harvest losses through solar-powered cold storage technology.
His innovation extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables from five days to up to twenty-one days, significantly reducing waste and increasing farmer incomes. AkoFresh has empowered hundreds of rural farmers by providing climate-adaptation solutions and strengthening food security in Ghana.
Beyond agritech, Mathias has pioneered solutions for inclusive education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed a disability-friendly virtual learning platform that supported over 850 hearing-impaired students, earning him the Ford Motor Company Fund COVID-19 Challenge Award. His leadership in social entrepreneurship has also been recognised globally, as he was the only African among the top 10 finalists for the 2022 Global Student Prize. He also won the inaugural Prototypes for Humanity Award in Dubai.
Mathias’s contributions extend to mentoring and policy work. As the Country Coordinator for the Hult Prize in Ghana, he has guided five impactful social projects benefiting over 7,000 individuals. He has also served as a mentor for the Women Entrepreneurship Accelerator Challenge and the “Your Future in Green Jobs Fellowship,” supporting young entrepreneurs in sustainability-focused careers. His expertise has been sought by international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, and UNICEF.
In 2024, Mathias was recognised as a Leader of Tomorrow at the St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland. He is currently a Consortium Member for the EU-funded “SUNNY Project,” which focuses on green energy solutions for refugee settlements in Uganda and Rwanda. He holds a degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and has furthered his entrepreneurial education at Queen’s University.
AgriPredict – Cassandra Mtine-Makumbi and Mwiza Simbeye
Co-founder: Cassandra Mtine-Makumbi
Source: LinkedIn
Cassandra Mtine-Makumbi is an award-winning agritech leader dedicated to transforming small-scale farming in Zambia through technology. As the Co-founder and CEO of AgriPredict Solutions, she spearheads efforts to provide smallholder farmers with real-time, data-driven agricultural insights, helping them mitigate weather, pests, and disease risks. Her work empowers farmers with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions, ultimately improving productivity and sustainability.
With over a decade of experience spanning research, analytics, project management, and leadership, Cassandra has contributed to pioneering initiatives in both the non-profit and private sectors. She has worked closely with local businesses to develop and implement transformative agritech solutions, earning recognition as a top 5 finalist in the inaugural Nyamuka Zambia Business Plan Competition. Her commitment to innovation and agricultural development was further acknowledged when she received the prestigious Zee Woman in Agriculture Award in 2024.
Cassandra holds an Environmental and Natural Resource Economics degree and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Arizona. Her academic background and practical experience enable her to drive impactful solutions in the agritech space. Passionate about using technology to empower smallholder farmers, she continues to champion digital transformation in agriculture, ensuring that farmers have access to the timely, actionable information they need to thrive.
Co-founder: Mwiza Simbeye
Source: Medium
Mwiza Simbeye is a passionate technologist and entrepreneur whose love for innovation began at an early age. As a child, he was fascinated by electronics and spent countless hours dismantling and repurposing electrical appliances to create new devices. By age 12, the Mars Rover further ignited his curiosity, sparking his interest in autonomous systems. This led him to learn Python, his first programming language, and later explore machine learning, using Scikit-Learn to develop basic predictive models.
Mwiza’s deep-seated passion for technology translated into real-world experience early on. Immediately after graduating high school, he secured employment as a software developer. In 2015, he enrolled at the University of Zambia to study Computer Science under the School of Natural Sciences. A year later, he co-founded AgriPredict, a groundbreaking agritech startup leveraging machine learning and deep learning to mitigate agricultural risks such as pests, diseases, and droughts.
Aerobotics – James Paterson
Source: LinkedIn
James Paterson is the CEO of Aerobotics, an agritech company that leverages drone and AI technology to enhance precision farming. With a background in aeronautical engineering, James earned his master’s degree from MIT in Boston, where he specialised in drone systems and data analysis, particularly in search and rescue operations.
However, his passion for agriculture runs even deeper. James comes from a fruit farming family in South Africa, where his father grows citrus, avocados, and stone fruit. This personal connection to farming fueled his ambition to merge advanced drone technology with agriculture.
After completing his master’s degree, James partnered with Benji Meltzer to co-found Aerobotics, bringing back cutting-edge AI and drone solutions to the farm. Starting with his father’s farm, they refined their technology and expanded it to neighboring farms before scaling operations to Australia, Europe, and the USA.
Livestock Wealth – Ntuthuko Shezi
Source: LinkedIn
South Africa’s Livestock Wealth reimagines cattle ownership through “crowd-farming,” founded by Ntuthuko Shezi. Raised in a rural village where cows funded his family’s education, Shezi saw livestock’s enduring value in African economies.
After multiple entrepreneurial ventures, he launched Livestock Wealth in 2015, turning cattle into a digital investment asset. His resilience and creative problem-solving have grown the platform from 26 cows to thousands, empowering investors and farmers alike.
Thrive Agric – Uka Eje
Source: LinkedIn
Uka Eje, the Co-Founder and CEO of ThriveAgric Limited, is at the helm of a rapidly growing agri-tech company in Nigeria, committed to ensuring food security across Africa. He co-founded ThriveAgric in 2017 and fully launched it in 2018, with a vision to create an Africa that can feed itself and the world. This vision is realised by connecting smallholder farmers to essential resources such as finance, data-driven farming practices, and access to both local and international markets for their produce.
Under Uka’s leadership, ThriveAgric has made significant strides. It has produced and traded over 2.3 million metric tonnes of grains and impacted 820,000 smallholder farmers in 2023 alone, according to Thrive’s 2023 impact report. The company has transformed the agricultural landscape for many rural farmers in just five years.
Uka holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Covenant University and has been part of prestigious programs such as YCombinator, Alibaba Business School, Google Launchpad Accelerator, and the University of Leeds’ Future of Food Programme. His insights on Africa’s agricultural sector have been shared at esteemed platforms, including the World Bank and Harvard Business School. Uka has received numerous accolades, including being named in the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30, receiving the 2019 Future Award for Agriculture, and being ranked among the Top 5 CEOs at the African Business CEO Summit in 2018.
Hello Tractor – Jehiel Oliver
Source: LinkedIn
Jehiel Oliver is the founder and CEO of Hello Tractor, an innovative agricultural technology company that bridges the gap between tractor owners and smallholder farmers needing tractor services. Jehiel oversees the company’s overall management, strategy, and partnerships, driving its mission to make farm machinery accessible and affordable for marginalised farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Before founding Hello Tractor, Jehiel established Aya Consulting, a boutique development firm, through which he worked in over ten countries, including conflict zones. His experience in rural markets and agriculture highlighted the critical need for low-income farmers, particularly women, to access affordable farm machinery. This insight led him to launch Hello Tractor, offering a shared-economy platform that connects farmers with affordable tractor services.
Jehiel’s career spans various roles in investment banking, private equity, and consulting in the U.S. He has been recognised for his contributions to social entrepreneurship, earning accolades such as being named a Top 100 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Circulars inaugural cohort. He also served under the Obama Administration on the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, where he chaired the technology subcommittee.
In addition to his role at Hello Tractor, Jehiel serves on several boards, including the board of directors for Root Capital. He also serves as the board treasurer for Shared Interest, a loan guarantee fund supporting agriculture and financial sector development in sub-Saharan Africa. He has previously sat on the board of H4H, Inc., an impact investment fund for communities in South Africa affected by HIV/AIDS.
BioBuu – Kigen Compton
Source: Wcef
Kigen Compton is the team leader of a BioInnovate Africa-supported project developing chicken and fish feed enriched with insect-based proteins, specifically from black soldier flies. He is also the co-founder and Managing Director of BioBuu Limited, a company in Kenya and Tanzania that produces high-protein animal feed and organic compost. Through BioBuu, Kigen has developed a scalable model that processes over 20 tons of waste daily using Black Soldier Fly Larvae, turning waste into valuable agricultural resources.
Kigen holds a Master of Science in Project Management and Operational Development from the Royal Institute of Science and Technology (KTH) in Sweden and a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
Selina Wamucii – John Oroko
Source: Linkedin
John Oroko, the founder of Selina Wamucii, was deeply influenced by his upbringing in a smallholder farming family, where he witnessed firsthand the challenges rural farmers face in accessing markets and securing fair incomes. Driven by a commitment to transform farmers’ earnings, John saw the potential of technology as a solution to these issues.
After graduating and a brief period in employment, John left his job to establish Selina Wamucii, a company named in honour of his mother’s first name and his co-founder’s mother’s middle name. The name serves as a tribute to their hard work as smallholder farmers who supported their families through the proceeds of their farms. With Selina Wamucii, John aims to empower rural farmers by connecting them to broader markets and improving their economic prospects.
