Nairobi, April 27, 2021: Hello Tractor, a technology start-up providing IoT-enabled digital solutions that enable smallholder farmers to optimize farm productivity, designed an innovative credit framework that supports the company’s new pay-as-you-go (PAYG) program.
These credit and risk management tools will better serve the underbanked entrepreneurs in Kenya who traditionally lack access to capital.
Hello Tractor is the largest marketplace for agricultural equipment in Africa. To date, Hello Tractor has mechanized over 500,000 farmers, has a presence in 15 countries, and has more than 3,000 tractors on its marketplace. Hello Tractor is able to provide a pre-screened pipeline of borrowers in need of asset financing, accompanied by the assurance that financed tractors are pre-booked on its marketplace and able to earn revenue to pay-off financing.
CEO Jehiel Oliver started Hello Tractor in 2014 because most smallholder farmers in Africa lack the machinery needed to fully cultivate their land. The access to mechanization that the Hello Tractor offering provides has allowed smallholder farmers to plant 40 times faster at one-third the cost. The new PAYG product solution takes access another step further, alleviating many of the financial barriers that have traditionally existed for tractor owners and entrepreneurs in Kenya.
“Hello Tractor is revolutionizing how farmers access tractors in a region plagued by low rates of mechanization and farm yields,” said Oliver. “We are deepening credit markets for entrepreneurs while expanding access to farm equipment, an innovative approach that holds unlimited promise for this continent and the global south.”
Hello Tractor would like to thank Echoing Green and Moody’s Corporation for their contributions.
About Hello Tractor
Hello Tractor is an agricultural technology company that provides affordable farm equipment finance for farmers, coops, and investors across Kenya. With over 500,000 farmers, receiving services from over 3,000 tractors and combines, Hello Tractor is the largest marketplace for agricultural equipment in Africa.