Grace Ashiru
The award-winning agricultural technology startup Hello Tractor is one of the first to join the Edo Agri Digital Innovation Hub. It is a brand-new program being launched across Africa to establish an ecosystem to foster digital transformation, innovation, and climate-smart agriculture.
The hub places a particular emphasis on Edo State, which is located in southern Nigeria. A media statement states that the Edo State Skills Development Agency and Songhai Labs, which is being touted as a “knowledge broker platform,” will be in charge of it.
It is anticipated that the hub would also welcome participation from several of Africa’s most innovative agritech startups and organizations. This comprises agricultural and financial organizations, startup ecosystems, and research institutes, as well as organizations based in Nigeria and organizations based in other countries.
Hello, Tractor was established in 2014, and Jehiel Oliver, a social entrepreneur, was the company’s founder. An earlier report from Forbes stated that the innovative app reduces the amount of labor and the drudgery traditionally associated with farming. As a result, farming becomes more appealing and lucrative for the upcoming generation.
Over two hundred fifty thousand smallholder farmers all over the continent are connected to tractor owners through Hello Tractor.
Crunchbase says that Hello Tractor has raised $4.2 million over six funding rounds. The most recent money it got was from an undisclosed venture series round on August 11, 2022. It has four investors, with John Deere and Heifer International among the latest.
Through the Edo Agri Digital Innovation Hub, Hello Tractor should be able to work with some local organizations in Edo State to use its innovative technology to help the agriculture sector become more digitized.
The project’s long-term goals will involve expanding into further regions of Nigeria and other African nations.
The news comes from a recent announcement by John Deere, which stated that Hello Tractor was among the first businesses to join John Deere’s startup partner program. Initiated in 2019, the program strengthens the company’s relationship with startups whose technology has the potential to provide additional benefits for clients.
According to Jason Brantley, who serves as the director of agriculture, turf sales, and marketing for John Deere throughout Africa and Asia, The creative work that Hello Tractor is doing to empower agricultural entrepreneurs in Africa and Asia with technologies and solutions is something that John Deere sees as an opportunity and thus wants to promote.
The work done by Hello Tractor is also in line with John Deere’s overall strategy and the ag and turf division’s Leap aspirations, which are “to ensure that 100 percent of new small agricultural equipment is connectivity-enabled by the year 2026.”
