The Sharing Economy reaches Africa

Posted on by

Uber. Lyft. Airbnb. Ebay. These companies using cutting edge technology have transformed the way the transportation and hospitality industries operate. Dubbed as pioneers of the sharing economy, the emergence of information technology and online marketplaces have allowed for the optimization of resources or the sharing of excess goods and services. That is the core premise of these businesses.

There are now 17 multi-billion dollar companies in the sharing economy around the world with 60,000 employees and $15 billion in funding in the sharing economy. 12 of them including Lyft, Airbnb, and Uber are based in the United States. 1 is based in Europe and 4 are based in Asia and Australia. Of these companies, 46% are involved in the money and transportation industries while another 36% are in the goods and space sector.

Now, the agriculture sector has joined the bandwagon. Hello Tractor, the brainchild of Jehiel Oliver is an Anacostia-based U.S. company that follows an Uber business model in lending tractors to farmers in Nigeria. Oliver devised a business model where farmers send a text message to Hello Tractor’s U.S.-based dispatchers who then located the nearest GPS-embedded Smart Tractor and alert the service provider. The tractors typically arrive within three days. Farmers can conveniently prepay for the services through SMS messaging and mobile money. Payment is only released once the service is completed.

“Nigeria has one of the largest inventories of uncultivated rain-fed farmland. But much crops are lost because of labor shortages and lack of mechanization,” Oliver said. The “Smart Tractor” that his business provides to farmers comes with attachments that produces in one day what Nigerian farmers do manually in 40 days. While the tractors benefit the farmers by cutting their labor costs by two-thirds, the service providers get additional revenue as well. For a $75 daily fee, tractor owners could earn five times the average wage.

When Oliver was working in investment banking, he visited developing countries and saw microfinance models in play. “I wanted to serve the base of the pyramid – to support the people who simply needed tools to enable them to be self-sufficient,” Oliver said. “Despite all the negative news you read about the Boko Haram or Ebola, you can’t ignore Africa.” Sharing is big business that goes beyond borders.

 

Sources:

48 thoughts on “The Sharing Economy reaches Africa”

  13. This particular blog is without a doubt awesome and besides informative. I have chosen a bunch of useful stuff out of this blog. I ad love to come back again and again. Cheers!

  17. Good website! I really love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I’m wondering how I might be notified when a new post has been made. I’ve subscribed to your feed which must do the trick! Have a great day!

  41. We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website offered us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our entire community will be thankful to you.

  43. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.

  44. 10/5/2016 In my estimation, michaelczinkota.com does a excellent job of dealing with topics of this type! Even if sometimes deliberately polemic, the material posted is in the main thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Leave a Reply