Ensibuuko
agri-solution led the quadruplet of Messrs Richard Zulu, Gerald Otim, Daniel
Opio and Ms Winnie Mbabazi emerged top winners at the just concluded Agri-Hackathon
championship host as part of the Information and Communication Technology for
Agriculture (ICT4Ag) international conference in Rwanda, the NaijaAgroNet reports.
NaijaAgroNet quoted The
Observer as the Ugandan team of app developers outshined other contestants
to go home with the 5,000 euros, about N1,056,467.00 prize money.
“The Ugandan farmers have won. We share a similar background with
them and we know how they struggle to finance their activities,” declared
Richard Zulu at Serena Hotel Kigali venue.
“For us the prize is a bonus after an extensive week of learning
and sharing ideas with some of the best developers in the region,” Zulu said.
According to Zulu, the Ensibuuko app provides the ultimate
solution to smallholder farmers. It comes with rich products which enhance the
power of a mobile and web technologies to help small-holder rural farmers in
Uganda acquire and pay loans to (non) microfinance institutions easily, quickly
and in an accessible way. It uses an automated mobile money and SMS (Short Message
Service).
“We
are working in 35 districts in Uganda. Most smallholder farmers are unbanked
and lack creditworthiness…that is why they need and have embraced this
product,” noted Gerald Otim, the business development manager.Isaac Oyimah with additional reports from The Observer/GEE.
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Pix: L-R: Rwanda minister for agriculture, Agnes Kalibata, Richard Zulu, Gerald Otim, Daniel Opio and Winnie Mbabazi