Providing Financial Services to Farmers on a Mobile Phone

“I believe that entrepreneurs have a big role to create employment for a lot of youth in Africa. There are many problems that need to be solved, such as moving money to smallholder farmers, and produce to market. These are the gaps that are ripe for employment opportunities for youth, and we need more people to become entrepreneurs so that we can create more pathways for employment.” – Peris Bosire

After graduating from the University of Nairobi, Peris Bosire and her business partner, Rita Kimani launched FarmDrive  to provide financial services to farmers through a mobile phone. To date, they have provided $800,000 in loans and have served more than 25,000 clients. The data they’ve generated provides smallholder farmers with a credit history so they can more easily access financial products. Peris recognizes that one enterprise alone cannot move the entire industry so their goal now is to help banks design financial products for farmers.  “We can move money to where it is needed most, and now we need to open it up to financial institutions,” she explains.

Peris was named one of 2019’s Emerging Leaders through an initiative from the Skoll Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation. The Emerging Leaders Initiative brings together the next generation of social entrepreneurs from around the world. Selected and supported through a partnership by the Skoll Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation, these leaders represent the great potential and passion of social entrepreneurship’s future leaders.