Tony Mochama

Kenyan fintech pioneer empowering smallholder farmers through digital financial solutions

Tony Mochama is the CEO of FarmDrive, a Nairobi-based fintech company using AI to provide financial services to African smallholder farmers. Launched in 2016, FarmDrive's platform assesses farmers' creditworthiness through crop data analysis, enabling them to secure loans from traditional banks. By 2022, the platform had facilitated over $15 million in loans to 20,000 farmers across Kenya and Uganda.

Mochama's 2020 partnership with Equity Bank created Africa's first blockchain-based agricultural loan system, reducing approval times from 3 weeks to 3 days. Her 2023 TED Talk "Reimagining Rural Finance" (available on TED) outlines how digital tools can bridge the agrifinance gap. FarmDrive's 2024 impact report shows a 300% increase in crop yields among borrowers.

Recognized as one of Africa's 50 Greatest Leaders by Time Magazine in 2021, Mochama's work is profiled in MIT Sloan's "Digital Agriculture Solutions" (2023). Her collaboration with USAID's Feed the Future initiative expanded services to 10 new countries by mid-2024.