Building the trust layer African agriculture has never had
Agrostil exists because 80%+ of smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa are financially invisible — not because they’re bad credit risks, but because there’s never been a reliable way to verify their farm activity.
We turn everyday farm activity — voice notes, photos, harvest reports — into a verified, explainable credit profile that banks, MFIs, and agribusinesses can actually lend against.
The problem was never demand for capital
Smallholder farmers across Nigeria and the wider region grow the crops that feed their communities, yet most of them have never held a bank loan. Lenders aren’t avoiding agriculture because it’s unprofitable — they’re avoiding it because there’s no reliable way to verify who’s actually farming, how well, and how consistently.
That gap forces farmers into informal lending at 25–40% interest, or into skipping inputs entirely and accepting lower yields. Multiply that across Sub-Saharan Africa and you get an estimated ₦1.2 trillion annual credit gap in West Africa alone.
Agrostil was built to close that gap — not by asking farmers to produce paperwork they don’t have, but by turning the farm activity they’re already doing into a credit profile lenders can trust.
Principles Behind the Product
Four commitments that shape every feature we ship.
Farmer-First
Every product decision starts with the farmer. If it doesn’t make their life easier or their data more valuable to them, we don’t build it.
Radical Transparency
Explainable scoring, not a black box. Farmers and lenders can both see exactly what drives a credit decision.
Partnership, Not Extraction
Farmers get free agronomy advice in exchange for their data. This is a two-way exchange, not a one-way harvest.
Honest About Where We Are
We’re an MVP-stage company building in the open — clear about what’s live today and what’s still ahead.
500+
Farmers targeted in pilot phase
₦1.2T
Agricultural credit gap in West Africa
4
Countries in the Year 2 expansion plan
Who’s Building Agrostil
A founding team spanning agri-fintech, AI engineering, and on-the-ground operations.
Tope Fasasi
Founder & Head of Business
Multi-venture founder with 10+ years building AI products in agri, health-tech, and legal services across Africa. Previous co-founder of AgriInnovate, which reached 50K+ smallholder farmers.
LinkedIn
Chikamsi Fortune
Technical Lead, AI/Backend
Senior ML and backend engineer with production experience building AI and voice-driven systems. Leads the technical architecture behind Agrostil’s credit scoring engine, with a focus on financial inclusion in emerging markets.
Matthew Chinda
Product/Operations Lead
Product and operations leader with a track record scaling pilot programs and partnerships across agriculture and fintech. Focused on turning cooperative and MFI relationships into repeatable, on-the-ground operations for Agrostil.
Want to Build This With Us?
Whether you’re a lender, cooperative, or future teammate, we’d like to hear from you.