Uganda’s Sandi AI helps farmer savings groups access solar irrigation without loans

Ugandan agri-tech startup Sandi AI is turning smallholder farmer savings groups into a route to owning solar irrigation equipment, with no loans, collateral or credit scores required.

Founded in 2021 by Douglas Albert Kikonyogo, Sandi AI lets farmer groups register via WhatsApp, USSD or its mobile platform. A group leader signs up the group and its members, and each member chooses the irrigation equipment they want.

The platform then digitises the way the group already saves. Rather than one member taking home cash each savings round, the pooled money buys equipment for one member at a time, until everyone in the group has theirs.

“This allows farmers to move from saving cash together to saving toward ownership of productive agricultural technologies,” Kikonyogo said.

The idea came from Kikonyogo’s own experience growing up in rural Uganda, where he saw his family struggle with drought and saw how hard it was for farmers to finance irrigation.

“The main problem was not that irrigation technology did not exist. The problem was that many farmers could not afford it,” he said. “Banks wanted collateral and land titles, while suppliers wanted full payment upfront and digital lenders wanted credit histories.”

Sandi AI competes with banks, microfinance institutions, pay-as-you-go irrigation firms, equipment retailers and other solar irrigation providers. Kikonyogo said its key difference is that it does not lend to farmers, which removes the risk of equipment being repossessed over missed payments.

The startup has registered more than 10,000 farmer groups, representing hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have accessed irrigation technology and agricultural advisory services through the platform. It operates mainly in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, and plans to expand into Zambia and Malawi, where savings groups are already common.

Sandi AI, which has grown largely organically, makes money through small transaction fees, supplier commissions, direct product sales, and agricultural data and advisory services. It is already generating revenue, which has grown to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Kikonyogo said building trust in digital financial systems has been one of the biggest challenges. Limited internet access and digital skills among farmers led the startup to rely on WhatsApp, USSD and field officers, while it has also had to build supplier, installation and support networks in rural areas.

“Instead of asking farmers to change who they are to fit into the financial system, we are building a financial system that works around the way they already live and save,” he said.

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