Linda Kwena

South African agri-tech pioneer empowering smallholder farmers through mobile innovation

Linda Kwena: Transforming Agriculture Through Mobile Tech

Linda Kwena is the founder and CEO of M-Farm, a Nairobi-based startup connecting 200,000+ smallholder farmers across East Africa via SMS platforms. Born in 1989 in Johannesburg, Kwena's work addresses food security and economic inequality through technology. Her platform provides real-time market prices, weather alerts, and agricultural tips to farmers with basic feature phones.

Community-Centric Model

Kwena's breakthrough came in 2015 with the Farmer's Voice initiative, which aggregates crop data to prevent surplus production. This system increased incomes by 40% for 35,000 maize farmers in Kenya. Her Mobile Soil Testing service uses SMS-based quizzes to recommend fertilizers, reaching 50,000 users monthly.

Scalable Impact

M-Farm's partnership with Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) expanded services into Rwanda and Uganda. Kwena developed the AgriChain app in 2020, using blockchain to track produce from farm to market. This reduced middleman costs by 25% for dairy cooperatives in Tanzania.

Global Recognition

In 2021, Kwena received the GSMA Mobile for Development Award and was featured in Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30. She advises the Kenyan government's Digital Agriculture Strategy and teaches at Strathmore University's tech entrepreneurship program.

Kwena's TED Talk "How SMS messages are feeding Africa" has 900,000+ views. Her innovations directly support SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 9 (Industry Innovation), making her a key figure in Africa's tech-driven agricultural revolution.