by Joachim Marc Christensen
When Samir Ibrahim and Charles Nichols first met in a restaurant in New York to discuss their new start-up plans, they were thousands of miles away from the sundried fields of Kenya where they would find themselves less than a year after.
That night in 2011, Samir, a finance major, and Charles, an engineer, sketched the blueprint of what would become SunCulture – a company set out to revolutionize and modernize agriculture in Kenya.
Today, after five years in Kenya, SunCulture has become a success. Offering affordable sun-powered irrigation systems, the company empowers Kenyan farmers to take charge of their crops even when rains are failing. The system can increase crop yield by up to 300 percent and reduce water usage by as much as 80 percent. Add to that savings on diesel and manual labor, and even smallholder farmers with limited financial capacity can afford to acquire and use the system.
Agriculture is one of the Kenya’s main industries, providing 26 percent of its GDP and employing 80 percent of its rural population, and yet over 80 percent of the country’s land mass suffers from unpredictable rainfalls and arid soils. With a population growth of 3.2 percent, providing continuous job and food security for Kenyans will be a huge challenge – a challenge SunCulture is helping to solve.
SunCulture was featured in the 2015 Sustainia100 publication, celebrated as one of the most promising sustainable solutions, and was even shortlisted for the Sustainia Award. I reached out to CEO and co-founder Samir Ibrahim to learn more about SunCulture’s agro adventure.
About five years ago, you ditched your job at PwC in New York to start SunCulture in Nairobi. What led you to pursue a different career path?
I’ve always been interested in the private sector’s role in economic development. My family is from East Africa and I grew up with a sense of responsibility to use the opportunities I was given to help those who weren’t as lucky, and I knew I’d end up in East Africa someday. So when my co-founder Charlie came to me with the idea, I didn’t hesitate at the chance to jumpstart my work in the region.
Today, after five years in Kenya, SunCulture has become a success. Offering affordable sun-powered irrigation systems, the company empowers Kenyan farmers to take charge of their crops even when rains are failing. The system can increase crop yield by up to 300 percent and reduce water usage by as much as 80 percent. Add to that savings on diesel and manual labor, and even smallholder farmers with limited financial capacity can afford to acquire and use the system.
Agriculture is one of the Kenya’s main industries, providing 26 percent of its GDP and employing 80 percent of its rural population, and yet over 80 percent of the country’s land mass suffers from unpredictable rainfalls and arid soils. With a population growth of 3.2 percent, providing continuous job and food security for Kenyans will be a huge challenge – a challenge SunCulture is helping to solve.
SunCulture was featured in the 2015 Sustainia100 publication, celebrated as one of the most promising sustainable solutions, and was even shortlisted for the Sustainia Award. I reached out to CEO and co-founder Samir Ibrahim to learn more about SunCulture’s agro adventure.
What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting up SunCulture?
There isn’t one single challenge that sticks out as being the most difficult thing we faced when starting SunCulture. Yet the combination of all of the challenges start-ups go through while facing the operational challenges that come with working in East Africa wasn’t easy. Lack of electricity, changing import regulations, and learning new legal systems all added to the challenges we faced. But then again, they also made it very fun!
Watch Samir’s TEDxNairobi talk from 2015
You argue that we need to look at farmers as customers and not beneficiaries of aid. Can you elaborate on that?
Too many organizations think that the way to solve development issues is to give things away. But if we look at farmers as customers and not beneficiaries of aid, we are forced to develop solutions that they really need. If you’re donating something, there are no checks in place to ensure your solutions are relevant because everyone will take something that’s free. When you have to ask someone to pay for something, that’s when you hear the truth.
What are financial institutions in Kenya doing to help smallholder farmers? Are they doing enough?
Despite 65 percent of Africa’s labor force being in agriculture, less than 1 percent of outstanding commercial bank loans go to the agricultural sector. It’s a systemic issue. So to combat this, we’re working with the Shell Foundation to pilot our Pay-As-You-Grow financing platform to help farmers access high-quality agricultural assets.
You have unveiled plans to expand SunCulture to Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. How is it going?
We’re still in the process of evaluating which partners we will work with to enter those markets. Partnerships are an important piece of our expansion strategy, as we rely on partners for local distribution, understanding political climate and helping us adapt our solution for the context of the country we are working in.
How far can drip irrigation take agriculture in Africa?
Advancing agriculture in Africa will take much more than drip irrigation. It will take technology, service, and financial solutions across the agriculture value chain working together to create solutions for farmers. Drip irrigation, and other micro irrigation, will play a major role in this, but not alone.
What is your advice to other entrepreneurs with dreams of making our world a better place?
Don’t emulate, stay true to your values, and don’t stop until the job is complete.
You can read more about SunCulture and the emerging market for water-efficient agriculture on the Explorer.
© Photos by Sustainia (top image) and SunCulture (bottom image)