Poverty ALLEVIATION in Nigeria Via The Implementation of Digital Platforms 

Nigeria is a paradox, a country blessed with almost every type of natural resource and yet dominated by poverty.

Nigeria is made up of highly intelligent, hardworking and industrious people, however, the economic climate is not favorable and those who have an opportunity to ‘check out’ to greener lands do so without a second thought.

Fact is, the institutions in Nigeria that are meant to establish the needed infrastructure to facilitate growth and development of business enterprise fail to achieve this critical objective and the impoverishment of the citizenry is  inevitable. So we have people who can, but cannot.

The traditional provider of basic infrastructure and amenities to foster a growth environment for business enterprise in a society is the government. However, Digital Platforms have the ability to create opportunities for growth and eradication of poverty by creating global traction for local businesses in Nigeria. 

Focus: Agricultural Sector

“The future millionaires and billionaires of Africa will not be coming from the oil and gas sector, they will be coming from the agriculture sector. But I want African countries to be looking at agriculture as a business, not as a way of life. Nobody smokes gas, nobody drinks oil, but everybody eats food. So food is critical and that is what Africa has a comparative advantage in”.

Akinwumi Adesina, President, Africa Development Bank

According to Wikipedia, Agriculture in Nigeria is a branch of the economy in Nigeria, providing employment for about 35% of the population as of 2020 and agriculture remains the foundation of the Nigerian economy and is the major source of livelihood for most Nigerians.

Still on Wikipedia, there is a low agricultural productivity due to the reasons summarized below:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Nigeria)

1. Low level of irrigation development
2. Limited adoption of research findings and technologies
3. High cost farm inputs
4. Poor access to credit
5. Inefficient fertilizer procurement and distribution
6. Insufficient storage facilities
7. Poor access to markets

The issues addressed above can be summarized using just one word – FUNDING.

Funding is what would help produce and it is also funding that would help increase traction of the agricultural by-products.

The Intervention of Digital Platforms

Digital platforms create electronic communities without boundaries, no passports needed, no visas needed and no tickets needed.

Digital platforms serve as ‘aggregators’ that create ecosystems for stakeholders to collaborate towards a common objective with high promises of ROI.

In the agricultural sector, we can define the following players:

1. Land owners
2. Farmers
3. Sales Brokers
4. Buyers (local & global)
5. Investors

Connecting the players listed above manually is a gargantuan process, and this is the reason for the low agricultural productivity in Nigeria. Listed below are some of the challenges that inhibits a healthy collaboration between the required stakeholders in the Nigeria agricultural sector:

1. The farmers cannot get the financing needed to acquire land, machinery, etc. 
2. Farmers do not have direct access to a global market to sell their products
3. Sales Brokers cannot connect easily with farmers
4. Buyers do not have means to order (make enquiries) for agricultural products
5. Farmers cannot provide documentation for investors to define options and ROI

The implementation of a digital platform entails the following:

1. The development of a AgriTech website, published and launched on the World Wide Web
2. Registration on the platform by the various stakeholders
3. Coordinated by a web administrator who is responsible for managing the back end of the web portal

The digital platform (website) would give an opportunity for all stakeholders to sign up and collaborate, the approach embedded here is similar to a crowd funding methodology as many users can sign up to support local farmers financially by investing in farm products and getting ROI over a specified period of time.

Thus the farmers are empowered by stakeholders who get a return on their investment – WIN WIN, a classical illustration of how digital platforms can help restore a crumbling sector.

CASE STUDY: INVEST “N” FARM

The back end work for digital products is monumental and it is important to note that  digital products (mobile apps and websites) are merely a tip of the iceberg. A digital product without a business model lacks a spinal cord. The development of digital products requires a synergy between subject matter experts, business analysts and software developers.

In this article, I would be focussing on a product developed by ServerPoint Nigeria for a client who are a group of industrious technocrats and ‘agricultural development’ subject matter experts. The name of the product is Invest”N”Farm and you can visit the platform on https://www.investnfarm.com .

Invest”N”farm creates a global opportunity for farmers in different parts of the world to receive funds as aid for development in the form of investments from subscribers (who are expecting ROI in a specified duration). The application integrates a payment gateway to facilitate electronic payments. Some features for the application are bulleted below:

1. Investment portfolio – You can register on the platform and start investing in a farm by selecting an investment portfolio and choosing the amount of units you wish to invest in. The product currently available are maize, fish, and cassava, the list continues to grow
2. ROI Calculator – The digital platform has an inbuilt ROI calculator that makes it easy for you to calculate the how much ROI you will earn for a particular investment over a period of time
3. User Dashboard – You get your own digital dashboard that allows you track your investment

The Invest”N”Farm platform gives you an opportunity to become a farmer without being a farmer, it helps you to invest in the agricultural sector from the comfort of your home, it helps you to empower farmers and increase agricultural opportunities via the implementation of a digital platform.

Summary 

Digital Platforms create a proactive approach to solving problems that inhibit growth for local businesses. Digital Platforms work as aggregators that enable stakeholders to easily collaborate electronically regardless of time, distance or race. The implementation of digital platforms  helps to alleviate poverty by increasing sales traction and increasing financing opportunities in developing countries.

Server Point Nigeria, Your Go To Company for The Development of Digital Products

At ServerPoint Nigeria, we are excited to develop digital platforms that disrupt and we are willing to work with product owners and teams who have ideas that would add value and solve real life problems. 

For software development projects, we have a holistic approach that we call DEDVIM, a stage gate with 6 distinct phases each with specific objectives that must be accomplished (gates) before moving to the next phase. For more information on our DEDVIM model, please click here https://www.serverpointnig.com/2022/02/20/serverpoint-ng-our-holistic-approach-to-software-development-project-management-2/

As the head of our digital business analysis team and founder of the company, you can send me a mail at damola.adewusi@serverpointnig.com to discuss the idea you have for a digital product and I would be happy to bring this idea to life!

Visit our website – https://www.serverpointnig.com