Ellygreentech

ENG,ELIBARIKI E NSENUKA

Founder and CTO

Holds a honors degree in Agricultural Engineering and Mechanization from University of Dar es Salaam. Awarded as the best student in 2018/2019 in agriculture engineering department and his final year special project was awarded as the best undergraduate project in college of Agricultural Sciences and Fisheries technologies during university research week. He has passion, skills and knowledge in Agriculture technologies involving designing of irrigation systems,greenhouses,automated soil-less farming(hydroponics and aquaponics),agro-processing machinery, post-harvest handling and storage systems, livestock handling facilities, renewable energy technologies, aquaculture systems (fish farms,ponds,cages,hatcheries and recirculating systems),refrigerated and air conditioned food storage systems and other precision farming technologies. Currently he has designed Aqua-smart, a monitoring, control and automation system for urban farming technologies like hydroponic,aquaponic and recirculated aquaculture system to increase efficiency, reduce operation cost and increase production.

According to WFP 80% of agricultural production in Tanzania comes from subsistence farmers who rely on manual cultivation and rain fed production, making them highly vulnerable to climate changes. Furthermore world hunger map indicates 25%-34.9% of Tanzanian total population is undernourished. Modern sustainable farming technologies are an alternative solution but majority of farmers cannot afford. Ellygreentech provides a solution by educating, constructing, maintaining and renting out affordable and sustainable modern farms which are controlled and monitored using an IoT system(Aquasmart kit).The system allows farmers to have access to the parameters readings through display in the farm using Aquasmart web-app and mobile application. It also provides alerts and automation options. Aqua-smart kit helps to reduce costs associated with labor, water and power and minimizes human error. With our solution farmers can produce quality and nutritious food all year round at a lower cost hence improved food access, health and living standard. 

80% of agricultural production in Tanzania comes from subsistence farmers who rely on manual cultivation and rain fed production, making them highly vulnerable to climate changes, rendering stagnant food production. This forces importation of food worth around $600 million annually to cover the shortage. However this is still insufficient as the world hunger map indicates 25%-34.9% of Tanzanian total population is undernourished. WFP report of 2019 confirms a rise in world hunger for a  3rd year in row. Africa is the region with the greatest prevalence of hunger in the world. This implies that 1 in 5 people is hungry in Africa. Furthermore the effects caused by the Corona virus pandemic are alarming. The population of Tanzania is 58 million and is expected to double by 2050, with high rate of increment in urban areas. Due to increased population there are climate changes and climate variability and extremes that affect agricultural production. All this has led to the shift in which food is produced, distributed and consumed  in Africa and worldwide causing new food insecurities, nutrition and health challenges. These challenges indicate a big demand for sustainable ways of food production starting from local level to worldwide.

Our project (Ellygreentech) is focused on providing a solution by educating, constructing, maintaining and renting out affordable modern sustainable farm structures which are operated by our innovative product Aqua-smart kit, a control and monitoring system. This helps farmers to produce nutritious and quality food all year round in a controlled environment. The system allows the farmer to have access to the parameters readings through display in the farm using Aqua-smart web app and mobile application. It also provides alerts and automation options. Farmers can obtain all the information regarding fish and plant growth together with their growth history. Aqua-smart allows farmers to automate the pumps, lights, aerators, fans, pH control and nutrient injections from any place outside the farm. With the use of Aqua-smart kit costs associated with labor, water and power are reduced since all machines are automated according to crop and fish needs. It also minimizes human errors associated with manually measuring of parameters affecting fish and plant growth. In addition it saves time and provides efficient nutrient control and easy access. With our solution farmers can produce nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables  all year round at a lower cost hence improved health and living standard. 

Our solution's target population is small-holder farmers. Reports shows that Agriculture remains a cornerstone of Tanzanian economy, providing 31% to GDP and 24.9% of annual export earnings.68% of Tanzania’s work force engage in farming, both in rural and urban areas. However, 83% of all holdings are run by smallholder farmers who dominate the agricultural sector, contributing 75% of the total agricultural output (FAO. 2018). Smallholders data portrait (available at www.fao.org/familyfarming/data... there are 8,763,267 smallholder farmers in Tanzania with an average farm size of 2.5 acres who depend on rainfall in crop production. We come from this group of farmers and have experienced these problems which triggered us to our solution. We are also active members of farmers associations and we are making sure that farmers are involved in the whole process of development of our solution. We even conduct various tests in their farms, example we are currently doing our pilot study in a number of their fish farms. This allows us to understand their needs and ensure that our solution caters for those needs. Our system provides farmers with the most effective way to solve their problems associated with climatic changes and improve production, health and living standard.

Our problem, solution target population are directly related to the Elevate Prize specifically Elevating issues and their projects by building awareness and driving action to solve the most difficult problems of our world dimension. Vulnerability to climatic changes hindering sustainable food production and increased undernourishment remains a major problem worldwide. Our solution {Rental of modern sustainable farms equipped with a monitoring and controlling system (Aquasmart kit)} provides our target population (farmers),means to sustainably produce healthy foods at a low cost, hence enhance the access and consumption of these foods and a decrease in hunger and undernourishment.

Originally the idea was centered around our innovative product Aqua-smart kit. 2 years ago Elibariki Nsenuka our Chief Technical Officer who was then an agricultural engineering student at the University of Dar es Salaam came up with an the idea which is now a fully operating product Aquasmartkit whose main purpose is automation of farming activities with the aim of reducing costs associated with farming and improve efficiency. After extensive studies and with the help of the knowledge acquired at the University and the support from his lecturers the idea become feasible. He then shared his vision with his friend and now team member Elisha Nandrie who believed in his vision and saw a broader vision of this project to solve farmers problems. This is when the idea of construction, maintenance and renting out of modern sustainable farms equipped with Aquasmart Kit was born. From 2019 to present we have been working as a team to make this project a reality .

We all come from agricultural background (conventional farming) our families depend on farming for a living. We grew up seeing how climate changes affects food production especially to small holder farmers who rely on rainfall. Our parents worked day and night in their farms with the uncertainty of the outcomes but with a determination to put food on our table only for the to yield disappointing outcomes and sometimes nothing. Farmers cannot even produce sufficient food for their own consumption and this leads to an increased rate of hunger and malnutrition. We have been farming for the past few years by depending on rainfall but each year the yields went down because of climate changes. The determination to improve the wellbeing and living standard of our families and small holder farmers society is what motivates us to push our solution and make sure that our solution reaches majority of farmers. Our knowledge and skills and shared vision is what linked us together and we are determined to achieve our vision.

Our team is composed of expertise with passion in agriculture but coming from different disciplines, all our families depend on farming for a living. We all grew up seeing how climate change affects food production especially to small holder farmers who rely on rainfall. We have been farming for the past few years by depending on rainfall but each year the yields went down because of climate changes.
Our knowledge and skills linked us together so as to come up with a solution of helping smallholder farmers adapt modern sustainable farming technologies.
Our team is made up of expertise from Agriculture engineering and mechanization, accountancy and finance, Telecommunication and Electronics engineering, Computer science
We are all solving the problems which we have faced and grew up seeing our community face. We believe that modern sustainable farming accompanied by our innovative product Aquasmart kit is the future of agriculture.

We encountered a number of obstacles In the development of Aquasmart kit prototype, we needed sufficient funds to develop and test various prototypes to arrive to a working prototype. Being recent graduates and unemployed it was difficult to cover these expenses. We approached various people including investors but no investor was ready to invest in an idea which hasn't proven to be working. This was a major setback but it didn't stop us. We then approached the University of Dar es Salaam and convinced them to give us a chance to develop our first prototype under them and they believed in us and supported our first prototype development and we were given a chance to participate at a national exhibition known as NANENANE. Other challenges were in relation to the technicality of our solution. Our product needs power for its operation. Power shortage renders the system dysfunctionality. To overcome this we have incorporated the use of solar power to run our system hence ensuring power stability.

I finished my degree in agriculture engineering and mechanization in 2019, my classes during my final year involved agricultural related projects. In the third year we were divided into groups of 15 and had to complete various design projects. I was selected as a leader to my team whose project was to design low cost tomato cooling system. I try to step up as a leader whenever possible, because it allows me to develop skills in critical thinking, designing , and managing multiple tasks and deadlines. My team ended up getting grade A as a results of the team work spirit I was promoting and also because I set a schedule early in the project and delegated tasks to people based on their strengths. I enjoy leading by example and delegating, and I am looking forward to become a greater leader in this company and work together with my technical team in the design and implementation of our current and forthcoming projects.

Currently conventional farming is dorminant and a few modern farmers are emerging but at a very high cost giving us a competitive advantage provided by our innovative product Aquasmart kit and modern farms rental services which saves costs.

Continuous remote monitoring and control of parameters; Aquasmart  kit helps farmers to monitor and control their farm parameters (remotely) affecting plant and fish growth at ease without requirement of extensive professional expertise allowing them to reduce costs associated with labor and human errors.   Automation; Aqua smart also allows the farmer to completely automate the farm by setting the required levels of parameters needed for optimum and efficient growth of plant and fish within their controlled environment.   Cost saving; Automation reduces costs associated with power (electricity) in controlling pumps, lights, aerators and fans. Also it saves time needed to do manual work within the farm hence reducing labor cost.   Efficient and convenient; Aqua smart web app, mobile app and farm display allows the farmer to have access to his farm information wherever they are and they can make decision according to the information they have received   Alerts; report generation with graphical data representation and record keeping The use of aqua smart helps in alerting famers when there is problem in their farms. But also it allows them to keep record which can be used for farm management

We have had a number of discussion with farmers mainly smallholder farmers in our farmers associations and the issue of climatic effects has been dominant as farmers rise their concerns on how much climatic changes affect their production and growth and their quest for a permanent solution. These farmers are open to adapt to modern farming but their main hindrance is the high costs associated with modern farming where by only big farmers with deep pockets can afford. Our rental facilities Equipped with Aquasmart kit will enable these farmers to adapt to modern farming at affordable costs marking the beginning of their sustainability as farmers and the end of their major problem. With the use of modern farming facilities accompanied by aquasmart kit, food produced is estimated to be 41 times more than conventional farming methods. Aqua smart kit allows the society to have convenient and efficient farming experience. We also conducted a research on the main costs associated with farming to find a way to minimize these costs. Aqua smart kit is key to cost reduction as it reduces costs associated with labor, water use, power costs and human errors allowing farmers to produce high value crops, hence improving their income. Food produced by modern farming technologies are mainly organic, which are nutritious, safe and healthy thus promoting wellbeing of the society. We are currently conducting  a pilot study on Aquasmart kit in various fish farms and the effectiveness of  Aquasmart kit in monitoring and controlling parameters is highly appreciated by these farmers. Costs are highly minimized and efficiency maximized. With the use of our technology we estimate that production efficiency will be increased heavily, maximizing the access to nutritious low carbonate foods.

We are  currently finalizing our pilot study in 12 fish farms and we are looking forward to serve 1400 aquaculture farmers. We have had an opportunity to have access to these farmers because of the partnership we have with Aquaculture farms organization.
Based on our capacity we can install 150 Aquasmart kits per quarter. This brings us to 600 aquaculture farmers annually.
Further more with our rental service we plan to reach 520 small farmers in one year period. We plan to maintain a multiple of six in our expansion  yearly.
We therefore expect to be able to reach out 500,000 farmers after five years.
We will be able to accomplish this because of a strong and strategic sustainability plan we have laid.

1.Our target by 2121 is to generate our own sustainable revenue which will help us expand our operations

2.Our main target is to help atleast  500,000 smallholder farmers in Tanzania adopt modern sustainable farming technologies by 2025

3.Helping smallholder farmers produce food all year round without being affected with climate changes

4.Helping to reduce effects caused by agricultural production leading to climate changes and global warming

-The main challenge we are facing is capital shortage; we need funds to finance phase one of the implementation of our solution. So far all the money invested has come from the owners/founders and to proceed additional capital is needed. Financial support would help us go forward with phase one implementation after which we plan to be sustainable and fund phase two and the ongoing phases from internal sources.

-Winning customers trust is another challenge; satisfaction and a positive word of mouth from a happy customer is key to our success as a business. To win customers trust and loyalty we need to keep customers in mind in every decision making. 

- Technical challenges mainly Power shortage which may render dysfunction of the system (Aquasmart).This is crucial, as fluctuations in temperature might harm fish, plants, and nitrifying microorganisms

-Capital shortage; To overcome this we are actively looking for various sources of funds. We are trying to attract grants and investments by  participating in various competitions and challenges like the 2020 Global challenge. We also recognize the value of networking and there fore we try to connect all the time by talking to people and participating in various events.

-Winning customers (farmers) trust is another challenge; with this challenge we make sure to keep customers in mind in every decision making. We use the farmers associations as a means to get insights on the needs of farmers. We are also trying to secure various mutual partnerships like the one we have secured with AFO where we have gained access to their group of over a thousand fish farmers. With such partnerships we are able to gain insights of the customers demands and we are also able to easily penetrate the market.

- Technical challenges; In designing Aquasmart kit we ensure that each system will have a suitable sustainable energy source all the time to provide stable conditions for fish and plants. We conduct also various tests to make minor improvements for the system to function effectively.

Aqua farms Organization

Green fish Investment

University of Dar es salaam

We impact the society by providing them with the means to have sustainable ways of producing and consuming nutritious and lo-carbonate foods. Farmers are  Our key customers and we provide them with the means for sustainable food production and that way the society as our key beneficiaries can have reliable food access to improve their heath and nutrition. We also supply our farm produce (food products) direct to the beneficiaries. 

Our products; Aquasmart kit, Aquasmart web and mobile application and food products.

Our service; Modern farms Rental service.  

Our revenue streams.  1. Rental fees We are going to be charging our clients affordable fee for renting space in our modern farming facilities.  2. Aqua smart sales. We are going to be selling our innovative product to farmers who have already installed soil less and aqua culture systems.  3. Aqua smart web and mobile app subscription fee We are going to be charging a monthly subscription fee for farmers to have access to web and mobile application which allows farmers to control and monitor their farms, access farm record for management purposes and access to numerous educational articles meant to build our clients knowledge base.  4. Sales of our demonstration farms produce The quality food produced in our demo farms will be sold to our communities, in retail and whole sale at an affordable price.  

We expect to fund phase 1 of our project using funds that we expect to receive from grants and moving forward we expect to be sustainable and fund the next phases by funds generated internally.

Our objective is  Objective is to generate income within the organization through revenue-creating activities to finance the ongoing implementation of our solution. 

Initially the revenue from sales of the demo farm produce will be the main source of income that will contribute a large percent in the financing of the coming phases of implementation. The growing pace of implementing our solution will grow in multiple of six. 

Other sources of revenue will consists of revenue from sales of aqua smart kit, rental and subscription fees. The revenue from these sources will grow over time from one phase to another and gradually the percentage contribution from these sources to finance our solution implementation will increase.

Expected results; Reasonable profit, reasonable investment and expansion of our solution.

The whole project from start until now has been funded only by the team members financially and technically with consultation from the department of Agriculture Engineering, College of Agricultural Sciences and Fisheries Technologies University of Dar es salaam, Tanzania. The costs include the costs associated with manufacturing of a prototype and participation on various exhibitions mentioned, we also acquired a 170 acres of land in four regions( Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Tabora and Morogoro). Where we plan to construct the sustainable farms.   Prototype components costing USD 250 

Web app and mobile app development USD 500 

Costs incurred in demonstration and securing partnerships costing USD 868 

170 acres bought at USD 18,500 

In figure the total personal funding sum up to USD 20,118.    No external funding so far

No revenue generated so far

We are seeking for 100,000$ in funding and in terms of grants. We hope to rise this amount of money before the last quota of 2020 so that we can go forward with the implementation of phase one of our solution

Aquasmart manufacturing costs-USD 195,217.4

Pilot study expenses-USD 434.8

Marketing costs-USD 19,565.2

Demo farm operating expenses-USD 176,134.1

Office expenses-USD 40,826.1

Other expenses-USD 5,857.4

Total-USD 438,035

We are applying for Elavate prize so as to get assistance which will make us archieve our goal of helping small holder farmer adapt sustainable farming technologies which will help them produce food all year round.This will make our society reduce undernourished people.

The Elevate Prize can help us overcome the capital barrier by providing us with additional funds to finance our project.If we get a chance to be one among the selected teams of The Elevate Prize we will be able to implement phase 1 of our solution.

We need partners in marketing media and exposure, so as to reach out to more small holders farmers in East Africa and Africa at large. Hence creating a positive impact to them. We are also in need of support in the distribution  product(Aquasmart kit)  and service(rental service). So as to generate revenue and profit which will enable us to expand our solution, thus reaching out to 400,000 farmers in five years. We also need support in guidance of our startup towards the right direction. In this the boards members and advisors are important.