Monday, January 30, 2023
  • Home
  • Markets & Companies
  • Business & Economy
  • INNOVATION
  • EMPIRE
  • OPINION
  • CULTURAL CURRENTS
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • CORPORATE RENDEZVOUS
Financial Street
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Markets & Companies
  • Business & Economy
  • INNOVATION
  • EMPIRE
  • OPINION
  • CULTURAL CURRENTS
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • CORPORATE RENDEZVOUS
Financial Street
No Result
View All Result

Malian startup raises $1.2m to aid farmers

Chineye Udezo by Chineye Udezo
April 22, 2021
in Startups
0
Malian start-up raises $1.2m to aid farmers
0
SHARES
38
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on WhatsApp

An insurtech start-up, OKO, based in Mali, has closed a $1.2m seed investment.

The start-up, which provides inclusive agricultural insurance packages, using mobile technology, raised the sum to assist small-holder farmers across Africa secure their investments.

READ ALSO

Energy crisis buffet Nigeria’s small businesses

Nigerian startup closes $2.6m seed round for expansion

Newfund and ResiliAnce groups led the round that had other participants, namely Mercy Corps Venture, Techstars, ImpactAssets and RaSa.

Read Also:

  • Absence of sacrifice hurting our polity, elections – Enechionyia
    Absence of sacrifice hurting our polity, elections –…
  • Afrinvest, Interswitch, Obiano, UBA lead top 10 performing brands
    Afrinvest, Interswitch, Obiano, UBA lead top 10 performing…
  • Scholarly opportunities in W’Africa and youth development
    Scholarly opportunities in W’Africa and youth development

The company already has about 7,000 paying customers in Mali and compensated more than 1,000 farmers last year, who were affected by floods. OKO’s customers typically grow maize, cotton, sesame or millet. OKO also works with agro-industries to help them with their sustainability goals and secure their relationships with suppliers. Successful pilots were completed with ABInBev and Touton in Uganda.

This convinced Augustin Sayer, partner at Newfund, to support OKO: “We believe recent advancement in iOT and data availability will lead to the rise of parametric insurance in Africa for the benefit of the local populations. Simon and his team have built solid bases in Mali from which OKO can now expand in new countries and offer new insurance products.”

OKO takes pride in being the most inclusive crop insurance available. All farmers need to connect to OKO is a phone (no smartphone required): they can dial a short code to obtain more information and pay through mobile money services. To achieve this level of accessibility, the company partners with mobile operators. “OKO has taken full benefit of the Orange Money platform to provide a service that is both innovative and inclusive,” says Aicha Touré, CEO of Orange Money in Mali.

Daniel Block from Mercy Corps Ventures added, “While other micro-insurance for farmers exist, we were impressed by OKO’s ability to partner with a pan-African operator like Orange and establish a direct consumer link, which allows for an exciting opportunity to drive deeper user engagement and expand to a suite of insurance products for rural farmers in the future.

The service offered by OKO is supported by regulators and has won both the Fintech Showcase Award by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, representing financial regulators of emerging countries, and the SME award from ITU, the telecommunications governing body.

On the next challenges for OKO, Simon Schwall’s answer was clear, “We need to find more partners who can bring our product to farmers, be it NGOs, agro-industrial players, mobile operators or governmental programmes. We proved that our solution is working and answers a strong need. Now we need to scale.”

Tags: FarmersMalian

Get real time update about this post categories directly on your device, subscribe now.

Unsubscribe
Chineye Udezo

Chineye Udezo

Chineye Udezo is a content developer and social media manager. She is an intern at Plexus Media Interlinks, the owners of Financial Street.

Related Posts

Energy crisis buffet Nigeria small businesses
Front Page

Energy crisis buffet Nigeria’s small businesses

April 6, 2022
'Without fiscal reforms Africa to lose in energy investment'
Startups

Nigerian startup closes $2.6m seed round for expansion

May 26, 2021
Nigerians selected for #Youtubeblackvoice grant
Startups

Village Capital doles out $20,000 accelerator funds to startups

May 20, 2021
Orange Foundation facilitates access to COVID-19 vaccination
Startups

Nigerian startup raises $.8m to aid financial health

May 17, 2021
Enlabeler goes international, woos partners
Startups

Enlabeler goes international, woos partners

May 17, 2021
83 countries received $165bn loan from IMF
Front Page

CDcare provides interest-free loan platform for Africans

May 14, 2021
Next Post
Nigeria’s equities market heading for fifth straight weekly gain

Bulls' run ups Nigerian stocks by 0.04%


Naira4Dollar Rates
ADVERTISEMENT

RECENT STORIES

Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy names Ezekwesili, others ‘Grain from Ukraine’ envoys

January 27, 2023
Absence of sacrifice hurting our polity, elections – Enechionyia

Absence of sacrifice hurting our polity, elections – Enechionyia

January 26, 2023
Brands in Nigeria

Afrinvest, Interswitch, Obiano, UBA lead top 10 performing brands

January 25, 2023
Rhodes Scholarships

Scholarly opportunities in W’Africa and youth development

January 24, 2023
Christmas and New Year holidays

Frustration of bank customers during public holidays

January 17, 2023

OAA agency celebrates as founder joins tourism experts

January 14, 2023
Ehizua Hub

Ehizua Hub, Igbinedion launch IUO Okada Hub

January 14, 2023

TRENDING

  • Brands in Nigeria

    Afrinvest, Interswitch, Obiano, UBA lead top 10 performing brands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Absence of sacrifice hurting our polity, elections – Enechionyia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Scholarly opportunities in W’Africa and youth development

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Case for petty trading and investment in Nigeria

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Why Nigerian consumers prefer foreign goods

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Financial Street

© Financial Street 2021. All Rights Reserved.

More Links

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE
  • PERSONAL FINANCE
  • MARKETS & COMPANIES
    • APPOINTMENTS
    • COMMODITIES
    • COMPANIES
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMY
    • AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY
    • AGRO-ECONOMY
    • AVIATION
    • BRANDS
    • CONSUMER GOODS
    • ECONOMY
    • ENERGY
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • FINANCIAL INCLUSION
    • INSURANCE & PENSIONS
    • INVESTMENT
    • MANUFACTURING
    • MARITIME
    • MONEY
    • MSMEs
    • PRODUCT REVIEW
    • STARTUPS
  • CULTURAL CURRENTS
  • EMPIRE
  • CORPORATE RENDEZVOUS