In 2012, with a degree in economics and a postgraduate diploma in agribusiness, David started engaging with farmers from neighbouring regions. He soon realised that most farmers had difficulties in accessing markets and finance, which in turn stifled production. David teamed up with Gerald Otim with whom he had attended college, and together they worked to connect rural small holder farmers to markets and microfinance institutions.
By early 2013, David and Otim had helped more than one thousand smallholder farmers to access commodity markets worth US$80,000 (€57,700). They had also helped 500 farmers to access agricultural loans through a microfinance institution. But lack of collateral and the high costs of accessing formal finance remained a problem. The only other alternative, Saving and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs), had become tainted by fraud and lost public confidence. Revitalising the role of SACCOs in providing finance to rural smallholder farmers became the quest of the two young entrepreneurs.Their search for a workable solution led them to Outbox, a collaborative space for ICT inspired entrepreneurs in Kampala, Uganda. It is here that they learned of CTA’sthe ICT4Ag Hackathon, planned for November in 2013, and it organized by CTA at Outbox. It was at the AgriHack Championship that an innovative solution was first conceived.
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