ACCION: Virginia
Virginia Wanjiru Ndegwa, who lives near Nakuru, Kenya, isn’t afraid of hard work. At age 72, she’s raised ten children, is now looking after some of her grandchildren as well, and she’s still rising early every day to tend to the family farm. “Who will help you feed yourself if you don’t work? You have to sweat before you can eat. That’s what I do, that’s what suits me,” she says. Kenya-based Apollo Agriculture is a fintech startup that seeks to help hardworking, vulnerable smallholder farmers like Virginia with the challenges they face. Apollo, an Accion Venture Lab portfolio company, offers a suite of products, including customized packages of seed, fertilizer, advice, and insurance on credit — all enabled by advanced technological solutions like satellite data and digital communication.