The Health Entrepreneurship (HENT) Challenge’s first cohort is visiting Toronto this summer, where they are continuing their implementation phase through activities targeting business development, expanding entrepreneurial networks and facilitating exposure to potential investors.
The HENT Communications team caught up with the ventures to learn more about the origins of their companies, what they’ve learned to date, and what is coming up next...
Shamba Data - ZAMBIA
During his participation in an African Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hackathon, Kondwani Ngulube was motivated to tackle the challenges that afflict the agricultural industry. To substantiate his findings, he conducted interviews with over 100 agricultural stakeholders and farmers. Notably, he discovered that obtaining clean and accurate data on the agriculture supply chain, such as market intelligence, crop inputs like feed and modern production techniques, was a significant issue across the industry.
As a result, Kondwani joined forces with Brighton Mboya to develop a prototype that would address this challenge. After winning the African AI Hackathon, they co-founded Shamba Data, a venture that employs AI to connect African farmers to the agriculture supply chain. At present, Shamba Data serves as an agricultural data hub for Zambian farmers, providing them with real-time market intelligence for the Zambian industry.
What is the accomplishment to date that your team is most proud of?
Shamba Data has already onboarded over 350 farmers onto its platform, and the venture is scheduled to launch by mid-July 2023. The company is on track to generate nearly $2000 in revenue during its first month of operation.
If you could give advice to another founder getting started, what would that be?
“First, find a great co-founder. Next, talk to users early to spot their problems. Then build an MVP fast to solve those problems. Keep iterating on your prototype using user feedback. Finally, figure out if they are willing to pay for it. In the beginning, I think this is what matters most.”
Looking forward, Shamba Data plans to acquire more than 2000 farmers to their platform by the end of 2023. They are also building an online platform that will connect farmers to buyers and agricultural input suppliers with ease.
You can learn more about Shamba Data by visiting their website and their social media: LinkedIn & Facebook.