What is the name of your organization?
Cranitech Limited
What is the name of your solution?
EaseOnTrack
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
A digital platform providing access to finance through the use of alternative credit scoring among farmers.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Lusaka, Zambia
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
ZMB
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Access to finance is a significant challenge for farmers and agri-SMEs in Zambia and Africa.
The country is experiencing increased droughts, rising temperatures, and reduced rainfall, which are negatively impacting agricultural productivity. With the agriculture sector contributing 20% and 80% of Zambia's GDP and employment respectively, the sector is projected to lose $2.20-$3.13 billion over the next 10-20 years due to climate change.
However, limited access to finance prevents farmers and MSMEs from adopting climate-resilient solutions.
Women are disproportionately affected, as many are financially excluded. The Bank of Zambia's survey shows that only 58.68% of women are included in the formal financial system, and just 1.7% have access to microfinance services. Globally, over 1 billion women lack access to financial services.
The barriers to accessing finance include poor or lack of credit scores, ineffective delivery channels for finance, high transaction costs due to distance from financial institutions, and inadequate infrastructure. These factors discourage financiers from lending to farmers and agricultural SMEs. Additionally, the agriculture sector's risks, such as seasonal cash flows and price fluctuations, hinder both farmers' ability to repay loans and financiers' willingness to lend.
What is your solution?
EaseOnTrack is a digital finance platform that provides farmers and Agricultural MSMEs with access to finance. The platform has a financier's portal for credit applications, allowing users to easily request funding. It also helps farmers manage their finances by recording transactions, inventory, and generating financial reports. With mobile money integration, EaseOnTrack enables farmers to make and receive payments instantly, helping them build a digital transactional history.
Using machine learning, the platform assesses alternative creditworthiness through phone metadata and transaction records, offering alternative data for loan eligibility. It connects farmers with active microlending institutions and financiers who can review and approve requests for climate resilience and mitigation financing. Farmers receive funds via mobile money, and their financial performance is tracked on the platform.
EaseOnTrack also runs community outreach programs to educate farmers on climate resilience, financial literacy, and agriculture risks. Local extension officers facilitate these programs and act as mobile money agents. Additionally, the platform includes weather forecasts to assist farmers in making informed decisions.
The platform’s features vary based on farm scale, from basic to advanced functionalities. Farmers can access EaseOnTrack via USSD or Web Version.
Watch a short YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmKtxPXgCmE
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution serves smallholder farmers and Agri-MSMEs in Zambia, who face barriers to accessing finance due to limited financial services, lack of collateral and credit score. These farmers, dependent on rain-fed agriculture, are vulnerable to climate change, which affects productivity and financial stability.
Our digital finance platform helps by enabling farmers to maintain digital records of their financial and farm operations. Using machine learning, the platform assesses creditworthiness based on alternative data such as crop yields, market prices, cooperative memberships, and mobile money transactions. This empowers farmers to apply for climate financing to enhance their resilience and productivity. It also connects users with microlending institutions and finance providers offering climate finance.
In addition, we conduct community outreach programs to educate farmers on climate resilience, financial literacy, and agricultural risks. These are led by local extension officers who also act as mobile money agents, facilitating transactions and offering support.
To reduce defaults, we create market and insurance linkages that help farmers access reliable markets for their produce, ensuring consistent income and improving repayment rates.
By improving access to finance, financial literacy, and climate resilience, our solution empowers farmers and Agri-MSMEs, fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
