Aug 17, 2018
On episode 32 we welcome Usman Javaid – CEO of Ricult. This
startup spawned out of MIT sets to change the paradigm in global
agriculture by rejiggering how folks who grow our food in all
corners of the world can access resources, and sell their resulting
crops to benefit themselves and their consumers. Ricult is
unique as they aim to fix the agriculture value chain through
simple mobile tools that can be overlaid on modern technology
platforms. By improving the value chain, Ricult is enabling farmers
to pull themselves out of poverty while tapping a multi-billion
dollar market.
“We are not a charity; we are an empowering community
transformation. This is the basis for a brighter future, built on
hand-ups, not handouts” describes Javaid, an entrepreneur
with 15 years of experience in Telecom, Mobile Banking, Mobile
Agriculture in Pakistan/Bangladesh – who is now equipped with an
MBA from MIT Sloan. Usman leveraged his past experience
selling petrochemical fertilizers at Exxon, and time spent with
Pakistani dairymen while at Nestle to better understand and
appreciate the perils of small stakeholder farmers around the
world. While at Sloan school he helped organize a team of
global thought-leaders equally interested in changing global
agriculture through defining a new paradigm focused on the farmer
first. And, that’s what they’ve done.
Their Bill and Melinda Gates foundation backed company has now architected and framed a system which alleviates many of the issues within current supply chains for small farmers. Supply chains for the billion small stakeholder farmers throughout the globe are often controlled by their investors, who maybe be better described as loan-sharks and present limited interest in feeding a shrinking planet nor looking out for the best interests of their debtors. From Clearinghouse -to- Financier -to- Marketplace preserving production qualities – it’s RIcult that has stepped in to re-introduce potential for small stakeholder farmers to make a fair living through growing our food.
The solutions they seek set to address vast global problems like
food shortage, malnourishment, poverty, and rural
unemployment. Javaid and his leadership team at Ricult have
decided this must begin by investing in the smallholder
farmer. Their promise is to give these farmers the tools they
need to be better informed, and to empower economic actors which
will help more farmers work their way out of debt & poverty. As
Usman states – “The world is ready for farming to be revolutionized
and become more inclusive by liberating the very people who form
the backbone of this industry.”
No matter where you’re from. where live, or what you’ve done – have
a listen to our 40 minute conversation. This discussions impacts us
all.