Since 2016, the Kenyan company, Shamba Pride has been dedicated to improving last-mile distribution for farm inputs and addressing price exploitation and quality issues for farmers through its merchant network, known as digishops.
The agtech firm has successfully established a network of 2,700 merchants (agro-dealers) spanning 24 counties in Kenya, covering just over half of the country. Looking ahead, Shamba Pride aims to scale further within Kenya over the next year, expanding its franchise network and reaching more retailers and agricultural regions. Additionally, it plans to explore neighboring markets such as Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, all of which face similar challenges in their farm input supply chains, including sourcing difficulties, unpredictable prices, quality issues, and stockouts.
To facilitate its growth plans, Shamba Pride has secured a $3.7 million debt-equity pre-Series A funding from the EU agriculture financing initiative EDFI AgriFI and Seedstars Africa Ventures (SAV). This funding, including $1.7 million in equity, follows a capital raise of $1.1 million in 2021 from SAV and Gray Matters Capital.
Shamba Pride employs digital solutions to empower agro-dealers, enabling them to manage their businesses and order inventory efficiently. This approach ensures a steady supply of crucial agricultural inputs like fertilizers and seeds to millions of small-scale farmers in rural areas.
Samuel Munguti, the founder and CEO of Shamba Pride, emphasized the company’s commitment to empowering agro-dealers with the right tools and technology for business visibility, professional and commercial development, and support for the farmers they serve. The agtech also plays a role in providing farmers with market linkages, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) financial services, and training information through its USSD platform.
Shamba Pride primarily targets small-scale farmers in Kenya’s agriculture sector, which significantly contributes to the country’s GDP, employs a substantial portion of the population, especially in rural areas, and plays a pivotal role in export earnings.
Maxime Bouan, a general partner at SAV, expressed pride in supporting Shamba Pride’s scalable model, which generates additional revenues for farmers and agro-dealers, particularly contributing to successful women entrepreneurship.
SAV is a sector-agnostic fund that focuses on startups addressing basic needs such as education, healthcare, and utilities or enhancing goods, services, and efficiency. Shamba Pride strategically sources inventory from partners like the French multinational Elephant Verve, supplying “climate-smart” farm inputs to build resilience for smallholder farmers.
