In a country where over 70% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, one startup is bridging the gap between Nigeria’s smallholder farmers and the future.
Thrive Agric, founded in 2017, has grown from a digital crowdfunding platform to a fully integrated agro-fintech and supply chain enabler. By providing access to capital, data driven support, and guaranteed off-take, Thrive Agric has impacted over 800,000 farmers across 22 Nigerian states as of 2025.
With a blend of technology and trust, the company is reshaping how food is grown, sold, and financed in West Africa.
A Farmer-First Mission
Thrive Agric’s co-founders Ayodeji Arikawe and Uka Eje, met at university with a shared passion for improving agricultural systems. They discovered a massive opportunity: smallholder farmers who contribute over 90% of Nigeria’s food lacked consistent access to capital, markets, and technical expertise.
“We realized the problem wasn’t the farmers,” said Eje in a 2024 interview. “It was the system failing them.”
Thrive Agric built its model around three core offerings:
- Input financing: Seeds, fertilizers, and tools, delivered upfront.
- Extension services: Agronomists provide remote and in -person advice.
- Marker linkage: Offtake contacts with food processors and buyers.
Farmers repay after harvest, with profits growing season by season
Technology in the Fields
At the heart of Thrive Agric’s success is its propriety platform: a mobile first system that digitizes farm activities, monitors crop performance, and facilitates loan disbursement and repayment tracking.
Each farmer is onboard through local agents, who use smartphones to map frames with GPS, create profiles, and collect biometric data for authentication. Framers then receive tailored agronomic support via SMS, voice messages, and occasional in-person visits.
In 2023, the startup launched ThriveApp, a user friendly mobile dashboard that allows farmers to:
- Monitor loan status and repayment schedules
- Access weather forecast
- Record yields and input usage
- Ask questions in local languages
This digital backbone ensures transparency across the value chain, earning trust from farmers, lenders, and buyers alike.
Scale, Impact, and Gender Inclusion
To date, Thrive Agric’s model has supported:
- Over 800,000 farmers, including more than 300,000 women
- More than 2.2 million acres of cultivated land
- Crops ranging from maize and rice to soybeans and groundnuts
The company partners with food manufactures like Nestlé, Floud Mills of Nigeria and Olam, offering granted offtake at fair market rates. This eliminates price volatility and improves farmer incomes.
Overcoming Setbacks: The 2020 Pivot
Thrive Agric’s journey hasn’t been without bumps. In 2020, the company faces cashflow issues stemming from delayed harvests, pandemic related disruptions, and over leveraged farmer loans. The company temporarily paused repayments to individual investors, triggering a reputational challenge.
Rather than fold, the founders restricted operations, improved risk assessment, and focused on institutional partnerships. By 20222, Thrive Agric has not only repaid its obligations but returned to growth leaner, wiser, and more focused.
Growing from the ground up
Thrive Agric isn’t just transforming farming, it’s helping create a more resilient, equitable and technology driven future for African agriculture.
With the average Nigerian farmer now equipped with mobile tech, crop insurance and market access, the sector one defines by risk and subsistence is now scalding toward opportunity and abundance.
As for maize farmer Kaduna State put it:
“Before Thrive, I sold to whoever paid. Now, I know who I plant for and I earn more doing it.”
