Mary Aboagye, a Ghanaian agritech entrepreneur helping cereal farmers to thrive — Lionesses of Africa

What inspired you to start your company?

After a visit to large farms, the farm officers shared their sentiment and difficulty in controlling pest birds on their fields. They asked for a solution since all efforts had proven futile and conventional methods of bird scaring which involve making of noise the clanging of metals and use of catapults have been seen to be largely ineffective.

A need was identified and an opportunity was spotted.

Why should anyone use your service or product?

Some farmers have been seen to engage their own children in bird scaring exercises which is detrimental to their education. Our solution helps ensure that these children are taken off the fields and return to the classroom. Our solution helps contribute to the attainment of the sustainable development goals 1,2,4,8 and 13.

Tell us a little about your team

Silas Karikari Boateng is the Agriculturist with 6 years in the Agricultural space, Bright Tetteh Kwao is the technical lead of the team, he has a background in engineering physic and is a technology enthusiast. Isaac Boakye is the Operations lead of the team, he has a background in Computer Science. Boris Boadi is the financial lead of the team with a background in accounting and finance.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

My entrepreneurial journey began right after university, I founded a multi-national organization called environmental change agents which is made up of young graduates from some select African countries committed to saving the environment. My drive for entrepreneurship got me to seek more training and mentorship hence I enrolled in the 2019 Agritech challenge organised by Kosmos innovation centre, which was a 10 month program where deep insight into entrepreneurship, presentation, accounting, business management, team building and so on were taught. I was also part of the Young African Leaders Initiative in 2018.