Smallholder farmers are the backbone of Africa's agricultural sector, producing 80% of the region's food supply. In this episode, we met with Tim Strong, Head of Agricultural Finance for Opportunity International to discuss how financial inclusion can be a vehicle for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve their goals. 

Guest: 

Timothy Strong, Head of Agricultural Finance at Opportunity International USA

The episode covered:

• The $170 billion annual financing gap facing smallholder farmers
• The role of smallholders in producing 80% of food supply in low-and middle-income nations
• How Opportunity International's network of 1,347 Farmer Support Agents (FSAs) has connected over 280,000 smallholder farmers with vital support
• The GROW Strategy for empowering women in agriculture, who make up 80% of the agricultural workforce in low-income countries
• Innovation through UlangiziAI chatbot - providing instant agricultural advice in English and Chichewa
• Climate resilience and economic challenges facing smallholder farmers
• Blended finance models to de-risk agricultural investments

Tim Strong

Timothy Strong serves as the Head of Agriculture Finance for Opportunity International. In addition to managing a diverse portfolio of agriculture finance products and services throughout Africa, he has spearheaded Opportunity’s efforts to implement and mainstream gender-inclusive services to empower women in farming. Tim is originally from Northern California and has worked in Southern and Eastern Africa since 2005.

Before joining Opportunity, Tim worked with a Silicon Valley start-up coordinating Lean and Kaizen project management, the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Services, the U.S. Peace Corps, the Clinton Foundation, and several commercial farms. He received a Bachelor in Science in biochemistry and plant physiology from the University of California at Davis, and he holds a master’s degree in environmental policy and an MBA in operations management from Middlebury College. He lives with his family in Lilongwe, Malawi.

For further information on the initiatives discussed in the episode, visit the following links:

• Opportunity International Agricultural Finance - Website
• Ulangizi AI Chatbot - NVIDIA Developer Blog
• AI is helping the worlds poorest farmers improve yields - Bloomberg Article

Financial Inclusion Unlocked is a podcast on a journey to learn how we can unlock the potential of financial inclusion as an enabler for the 17 UN SDGs. This show is produced by SIJ Media, and Series 1 is sponsored by SCBF.

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Connect with host Jack Farren on Linkedin or jack@sijmedia.com