Social entrepreneurs Sriram Bharatam and Bharathi Bharatam travelled to Kenya for a joint venture with telecommunications giant Safaricom in 2011.
It would see them launch a digital health innovation dubbed “Tibu”.
While attempting to introduce the product to the dry northern and northeast counties of Wajir, Marsabit and Turkana, the two encountered a big problem – poor network infrastructure.
“We talk about modern networks like 5G internet in Nairobi but other parts of the country have no roads, leave alone internet connectivity,” Sriram said during the interview with Seeds of Gold.
As the Bharatams traversed these counties, they realised that access to information on modern ways of doing things was also a problem.
Communities in these regions relied on outdated methods of farming, herding, fishing and other economic activities.
In 2012, the Bharatams launched Kuza Biashara – a digital micro-learning enterprise that would enable households in remote settlements to gain access to information on good farming practices, available markets and sources of funding.
“All our previous work revolved around providing online solutions to problems. We witnessed digital solutions in agriculture during the Covid-19 pandemic. Digitisation and mechanisation are what enabled us as a country to boost food production,” Sriram added recently.
The two then formed a team that would curate learning content around agriculture and another that would design tools to relay this information.
One of the tools was a microprojector. It displayed digital learning content in multimedia format on any surface including walls, ceilings, floors and even tables.
“The micro projector has byte-sized digital content in video format. More than 10, 000 videos on entrepreneurship, business skills and life skills are now available,” Sriram said.
“We also designed a Wi-Fi router that has a battery, internal processor and hard disk. It creates its own hotspot and doesn’t require data from any network provider. That means it is useful in places that do not have network infrastructure.”
Unfortunately, the people targeted in the programme did not know how to operate the gadgets.
The Bharatams began by identifying enterprising young people from different communities in the target counties.
Virtual incubation programmes
The youth were put in virtual incubation programmes to learn from Kuza mentors.
After gaining the knowledge, the young entrepreneurs would go back to their communities and share it.
Each would then engage about 200 households, giving them the knowledge and tools needed to transform their livelihoods, especially agriculture.
“The main challenges in the grassroots are trust and language barrier. It is much easier to reach farmers in the local dialect than in English or Kiswahili. That is what the young people are doing,” Bharathi said.
She added that Kuza Biashara has engaged 5,000 young people to build and nurture relationships with farmers.
The youth entrepreneurs also make money by selling Kuza Biashara products.
To minimise the initial cost on farmers, Kuza Biashara has partnered with more than 25 devolved governments, private organisations, the World Bank, the United Nations and other development partners to deploy the products in remote and marginalised regions.
“We are working with county governments. Once disbursed, our aim is to see the products used for the right reason, which is farming. They should not be used for other purposes like football streaming,” Bharathi said.
The firm, which has 50 employees, says it has had an impact on more than 150,000 farmers across Kenya, with operations spilling over into Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, India and Bangladesh.
For its efforts, Kuza Biashara has been recognised in the Google Innovation Awards.
It has also received the Benefits Corporation (B Corporation) certification, which is normally given to private entities engaged in business for the social good.
Sriram says the food industry in Kenya has a lot of potential.
However, the non-alignment of players in the agricultural value chain has created problems that prevent the sector from operating at its best.
“Kenyans are an enterprising lot. Almost every working Kenyan has a side hustle. That is great for the country’s economy,” Sriram said.
“Supply aggregation, however, is a problem. Banks are their work, seed companies are doing what they are doing and so are fertiliser providers. Aligning these players and bringing them together for the sake of the smallholder farmer is a challenge that needs to be addressed but will require much effort.”
