YAKUB ABDULRASHEED – Ugandan agri-tech startup Sandi AI is developing a different route for smallholder farmers to acquire solar irrigation equipment, using the traditional savings-group model rather than conventional loans.
Founded in 2021 by Douglas Albert Kikonyogo, the startup allows farmer groups to register digitally and pool their savings to purchase irrigation equipment for members one at a time.
The model eliminates the need for collateral, credit scores and large upfront payments that often prevent smallholder farmers from accessing agricultural technology.
“This allows farmers to move from saving cash together to saving toward ownership of productive agricultural technologies,” Kikonyogo said.
The approach has already attracted more than 10,000 farmer groups across Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, representing hundreds of thousands of people, as Sandi AI seeks to expand its technology-enabled agricultural financing model across Africa.
What is Sandi AI and what does it do?
Sandi AI is an Ugandan agricultural technology company designed to help smallholder farmers access productive agricultural equipment through organised group savings.
Rather than functioning like a traditional bank or digital lender, the startup digitises the savings practices that farmers already use within their communities.
A group leader can register the group and its members through WhatsApp, USSD or Sandi AI’s mobile platform, after which individual members select the irrigation equipment they need.
The pooled savings are then used to purchase equipment for one member at a time until everyone in the group has received theirs. In effect, the platform transforms a conventional cash-based savings cycle into a pathway to asset ownership.
“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,” Kikonyogo said.
From traditional savings to agricultural asset ownership
The central idea behind Sandi AI is to redirect an established community-financing practice towards productive agricultural assets.
In a conventional savings group, members contribute regularly and each participant eventually receives the pooled cash according to an agreed rotation. Sandi AI applies a similar principle, but replaces the cash payout with irrigation equipment.
If a group has several farmers, its collective contributions can purchase an irrigation system for one member, followed by another member in the next cycle. This continues until participating farmers have acquired their own equipment.
The approach means farmers are not necessarily required to accumulate the entire purchase price individually before gaining access to irrigation technology.
Instead, collective saving becomes the mechanism through which ownership is gradually distributed among members.
Kikonyogo describes this transition as moving farmers from “saving cash together” to “saving toward ownership of productive agricultural technologies.”
Why irrigation financing remains a challenge for farmers
Sandi AI’s model emerged from Kikonyogo’s own experience growing up in rural Uganda, where he witnessed the effects of drought and the difficulty farmers faced in financing irrigation.
According to him, the problem was not necessarily the absence of irrigation technology, but the financial barriers surrounding access to it.
“The main problem was not that irrigation technology did not exist. The problem was that many farmers could not afford it,” he said.
Conventional financial institutions often require collateral and land titles, while equipment suppliers may demand full payment before installation. Digital lenders, meanwhile, commonly depend on credit histories that many smallholder farmers may not possess.
These requirements can leave farmers caught between needing technology to improve agricultural productivity and lacking the financial credentials required to acquire it.
Sandi AI therefore attempts to address the financing gap through collective savings rather than individual borrowing.
A no-loan model with a growing regional footprint
Unlike banks, microfinance institutions and pay-as-you-go irrigation providers, Sandi AI says it does not lend money to farmers.
This distinction is central to its model because farmers are not taking on a conventional debt obligation to acquire their equipment.
The startup also says the approach reduces the risk of equipment being repossessed because of missed loan repayments.
Its platform has so far registered more than 10,000 farmer groups, representing hundreds of thousands of people, with operations concentrated in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
The company is now looking towards Zambia and Malawi, where savings groups are also widely used. Its expansion strategy effectively follows an existing community-financing culture rather than requiring farmers to adopt an entirely unfamiliar financial system.
The startup has also developed networks involving equipment suppliers, installation providers and rural support services to make the model work beyond the digital platform.
How Sandi AI makes money and the challenges ahead
Although Sandi AI does not operate primarily as a lender, it has developed several revenue streams around its agricultural technology platform.
The company earns through small transaction fees, supplier commissions, direct product sales, as well as agricultural data and advisory services.
Reportedly, the startup is already generating revenue, with annual income growing into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, building trust in digital financial systems remains one of its significant challenges. Limited internet connectivity and digital literacy among farmers have pushed Sandi AI to combine digital channels such as WhatsApp and USSD with field officers who can support users directly.
The company has also had to develop reliable rural networks for equipment supply, installation and after-sales support.
These challenges underline the practical reality of digitising agriculture, that is, technology alone is insufficient unless the infrastructure and human support surrounding it can reach farmers where they live and work.
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