Mastercard announced this week that the financial service company has developed a mobile technology specifically for farmers in East Africa. The platform, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will help farmers buy inputs and sell crop more efficiently, as well as create a credit history for future borrowing.
The platform works from mobile phones, which have become common even if rural areas.
Here’s an article about the announcement from the Wall Street Journal.
And, here’s another from the Africa business blog, Footprint to Africa.