Ugandan start-up wins $50,000 to chase Africa’s $117bn farm-credit gap

A Ugandan artificial intelligence start-up, SANDI AI Technologies, has secured $50,000 (about UGX 190m) in growth funding after winning a grand prize at this year’s GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize, giving it capital to develop a credit-scoring product for a farmer-lending market that most banks have avoided.

The award was made during the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, which ran from 31 August to 4 September. GoGettaz, run by Generation Africa, awards two grand prizes of $50,000 each year — one to a female-led venture and one to a male-led venture — from a total pool of $160,000. SANDI AI, founded by Sandra Nabakka, took the female-led award.

The commercial case sits on a large, underserved market. The African Development Bank estimates that only about 6% of the continent’s smallholder farmers can access credit, and that agriculture attracts less than 5% of bank lending in many African countries. The International Finance Corporation has put the financing gap for smallholder farmers and small agribusinesses at roughly $117bn — a shortfall a growing number of technology firms are trying to close with alternative data and automated risk scoring.

SANDI AI says its technology uses artificial intelligence to assess farmers who cannot meet conventional lending requirements such as fixed assets or formal records, producing a view of creditworthiness that lenders can act on. The approach places it in an emerging category of data-driven agricultural lenders on the continent, which already includes more established players such as Kenya’s Apollo Agriculture, which uses farm and payment data to price credit and inputs.

For a lender, the model’s value turns on whether AI-generated scores can predict repayment as reliably as collateral does — the question that determines whether banks and microfinance institutions will lend against them at scale.

Beyond the cash, the organisers say GoGettaz connects winners to mentorship and a network of investors and agribusiness stakeholders, exposure that can help an early-stage company raise follow-on capital.

How far the product has progressed is unclear. SANDI AI did not disclose how many farmers use its platform, which lenders or banks it partners with, or the value of any loans facilitated through the system — the traction metrics investors typically scrutinise before backing a lending business.

“Farmers should not be limited by systems that were not designed around their realities,” Ms Nabakka said. She said the prize money would go towards developing the technology and reaching more farming communities, and that she wanted access to finance to be “smarter, fairer and more inclusive”.

For Uganda, the win signals that homegrown agritech and fintech ventures can compete for continental capital and recognition. The commercial test — converting that recognition into lending partnerships and revenue — lies ahead.