Millicent Okumu doesn’t depart you questioning whether or not she believes what she is saying. She speaks with power, with readability about whom she is constructing for. Ask the place the corporate is heading, and there’s little hesitation; ask whether or not she is going to nonetheless be working it in ten years, and the reply isn’t any.
By then, she expects Agriflex, the Kenyan agricultural enterprise she co-founded, to be working in no less than 5 African international locations, to be sustainably worthwhile, and to be led by any individual else. She would possibly take an advisory function. For now, nonetheless, the corporate occupies even the hours she supposedly spends away from it. At household gatherings, unfinished duties comply with her into the room.
Her father, a civil servant and farmer, raised cattle and grew sufficient meals to help family members past his family. She was shut to him, however much less enthusiastic concerning the farm. She averted agriculture in school and college, solely to discover herself back in it by means of a logistics job at iProcure in 2017.
Now she sells farm inputs, deploys spraying drones and listens to farmers clarify why a intelligent piece of technology might be of little use to them. That final half has meant slowing down plans and turning away buyers.
“We are in 2026,” she says. “We are no longer in 2006.”
She is impatient for progress, however more and more specific about what counts as progress, and who advantages.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
If I had met you at ten years outdated and requested what you wished to develop into, what would you’ve gotten mentioned? Would that lady recognise the girl sitting right here right this moment?
I wouldn’t have identified precisely what I wished to develop into, however I used to be already very decided and impressive.
I used to be a daddy’s lady, all the time following my father round and taking an curiosity in no matter he was doing. Even when he was discussing critical issues, I wished to be there. Although I wasn’t the firstborn, I used to be typically the individual he delegated duties to.
I couldn’t have informed you that I’d find yourself doing what I do right this moment, however I knew I’d be highly effective in a technique or one other.
What did cash seem like within the dwelling you grew up in? Was it one thing folks mentioned overtly, nervous about quietly, or anticipated you to exit and discover?
Money wasn’t one thing we mentioned overtly, however we didn’t have to exit on the lookout for it both. My father was a civil servant who additionally beloved farming. There was sufficient to care for us.
That modified when he died, simply after I had completed Form Four. Suddenly, I had to exit and discover cash. I began working at a younger age and determining how to care for all people, together with myself.
Money then grew to become one thing we mentioned overtly as a result of we had to work out how to make do with the little I used to be incomes.
Your background is in logistics and provide chains. What occurred that made agriculture private sufficient for you to construct a enterprise round it?
Agriculture had all the time been a part of my life. My father had a whole lot of cattle and land, and farming fed our household, our prolonged household and even different folks within the village.
He was specific about getting licensed seeds. He would deliver them from Kisumu or journey to Homa Bay city to purchase them. We all went to the farm, though I used to be the one who wasn’t significantly eager on it. My father knew that, however he additionally recognised that I had different strengths.
In highschool, I averted agriculture. At college, I averted it once more. Then, in 2017, agriculture got here calling.
I had been working in logistics when iProcure approached me. The firm had raised funding and wanted somebody to arrange its logistics division. I joined in October 2017, and that modified the whole lot.
The work uncovered me to a lot, and I grew to find it irresistible. By the time I made a decision to depart, I knew I wished to proceed working in agriculture.
Take me back to the primary farmer you tried to persuade to work with Agriflex. What did they ask that your marketing strategy hadn’t ready you for?
To be sincere, recruiting farmers and agro-dealers wasn’t significantly troublesome due to the relationships we had constructed at iProcure. People knew us and understood what we might do for them.
But one farmer requested a query that stayed with us: “Millicent and Isaac, you know we need inputs, and you are giving us access to them and advice. But what happens after that?”
Isaac is my co-founder and handles business actions and operations. What the farmer was asking us about was the marketplace for their produce. We had been supporting manufacturing, however the challenges didn’t finish there.
That made us take into consideration how we might assist farmers discover consumers. We now have a plan to help a few of them with that. We don’t need to assist them by means of manufacturing after which depart them hanging, whilst we proceed rolling out different components of the enterprise.
You work with drones and traceability instruments. How do you clarify what you do to a relative who interrupts midway by means of and asks, “But Millicent, what exactly do you sell?”
I begin with what’s best to perceive: I promote seeds to farmers and agro-dealers. I additionally promote crop-protection merchandise, together with agrochemicals and foliar feeds. Those are issues folks recognise and use, even back at dwelling.
Then I clarify that we’re serving to farmers transfer away from manually spraying their farms. With a drone, we are able to spray an acre in a minute. Instead of utilizing 100 litres of water per acre, we are able to use about 10 litres.
We are making the work simpler, lowering the time farmers spend on these duties and serving to them farm extra effectively. We are in 2026. We are now not in 2006.
Tell me a few time a farmer checked out one thing you had been happy with and successfully mentioned, “That is clever, but it won’t work here.” What did you do subsequent?
That occurred with the know-how aspect of the enterprise. Agriflex is technology-enabled, and we have now been pondering fastidiously about how know-how can complement our work and enhance what we provide farmers.
Initially, we wished to launch a cell app with a number of options, together with illness detection and proposals on which inputs to use.
But if you exit to the farms, you encounter sensible issues. The web connection is poor, or there isn’t any community in any respect. Many farmers additionally already recognise the frequent pests and ailments affecting the crops they develop repeatedly, comparable to maize and beans.
They informed us: “If this is what your app will do, it won’t solve my immediate problem.”
What they wished was entry to primary, sensible details about farming with out having to await us to organise a coaching session or demonstration. They had been already utilizing WhatsApp. Could we make the data they wanted accessible? Could we begin there, register them after which construct on that relationship?
That suggestions made us decelerate. We had wished to introduce the know-how instantly, however we listened to farmers and agro-dealers and solely rolled it out this yr.
It additionally meant saying no to some buyers who wished know-how to be the precedence. The suggestions from the sphere was telling us one thing completely different, and we determined to comply with that.
Who pays Agriflex, and for what? Where does the farmer’s acquire finish and your margin start?
Two teams pay us: agro-dealers and farmers. A big proportion of our income comes from agro-dealers, whom we provide in bulk.
We need to attain as many smallholder farmers as doable, however we can’t attain all of them immediately. Working by means of agro-dealers permits us to serve extra farmers by means of companies they already purchase from.
Farmers can even stroll into our two retailers, in Molo and Ol Kalou, and purchase immediately from us. Currently, they pay for inputs and drone providers. We additionally launched soil testing a few month in the past.
We negotiate higher buying and selling phrases with producers, which permits us to provide reasonably priced costs to farmers and agro-dealers whereas incomes a margin.
Trust, reliability and affordability have been essential to us. Agro-dealers want to know that we’ll provide them reliably, and each they and the farmers want costs that work for them.
What is the most costly assumption you’ve gotten made on this enterprise, and the way lengthy did it take you to admit it was flawed?
There was a challenge we took on early within the enterprise that regarded very profitable. On paper, the whole lot steered it could work. Based on the data we had acquired and the assumptions we had made, it regarded like alternative.
But it didn’t work out as we anticipated.
It took us three months to agree that we wanted to cease. We had to settle for that it wasn’t working, minimize it off and transfer on.
When folks speak about empowering ladies farmers, the language can develop into very polished. Tell me about one girl whose expertise pressured you to change how Agriflex operates.
There is a lady farmer with about 50 acres that she crops each season. We had been supplying her with inputs, however spending time on her farm confirmed us how far more help she wanted.
Spraying even 20 acres concerned a number of staff over a number of days. She had to be there supervising, and there was a 2,000-litre water tank on the farm. After all that work, the prices had been nonetheless very excessive.
It made us ask what the help provided by means of empowerment programmes truly modifications. Does it cut back the time a lady spends on the farm? Does it cut back the assets she has to put into it?
With the drone, we accomplished the spraying in about half-hour.
That expertise made us pause and rethink our priorities. Instead of concentrating solely on recruiting extra prospects, we wanted to look extra intently at how we supported those we already had. That applies to our agro-dealers too.
We have additionally supported her with discovering a marketplace for her produce, despite the fact that that isn’t the core of our enterprise.
For me, empowerment means making somebody’s life simpler in methods they will truly see and expertise.
Have you ever walked into a gathering and realised you’ll have to show your self earlier than anybody would talk about what you are promoting? How did you deal with the room?
Yes. Sometimes folks say: “When you said you were Millicent, and we heard what you were doing, we expected someone older and bigger.”
They knew they had been assembly a lady, however I nonetheless didn’t seem like the individual that they had imagined. Then comes the query: why ought to they belief that I perceive what I’m doing?
What has labored for me is understanding my enterprise inside out. I want to perceive each side of it, together with the numbers.
I additionally draw on my expertise. I’ve executed this work earlier than, and I’m happy with what I achieved. I’m not going into it blindly. I’ve a blueprint and a few understanding of what’s going to work and what received’t.
When you’ll be able to clarify that clearly, folks start to pay attention. How you carry your self into the room issues too. They could have arrived with assumptions, however you can provide them causes to rethink.
What has been your closest encounter with giving up? What occurred, who did you name, and what made you come the subsequent morning?
There have been a number of moments, however I’d give attention to fundraising. My co-founder and I’ve appreciable expertise within the enterprise itself. We perceive the work. Funding has been tougher.
Sometimes conversations progress very nicely, and you start to anticipate a constructive end result. You have plans prepared and are getting ready to get issues transferring. Then the suggestions comes: “Let’s pause. Let’s wait.”
You end up asking: wait till when?
It can depart you feeling so dejected that you just wonder if to proceed and why you’re doing it in any respect.
The individual I name is all the time my co-founder, Isaac. I inform him issues aren’t going as I assumed they might, and we discuss by means of it.
What brings us back is the folks we have now served. Despite the challenges, there was a lot pleasure within the journey.
One girl informed us that beforehand, her farm hadn’t produced sufficient surplus to assist with college charges. Last yr, after placing apart meals for her family, she had sufficient left to pay college charges for her two kids. She was so completely happy.
Stories like that make us really feel we have now to maintain going.
We even have to stay versatile and regulate shortly when issues change. Having a co-founder who understands that we’re constructing for the long run makes the journey simpler.
What are you want when issues go flawed? If I requested your co-founder, would he describe the identical individual you’re about to describe?
Definitely. He would inform you that Millicent may be very powerful and really strict. But he would additionally inform you that I’m essentially the most constructive individual.
When one thing goes flawed, I’m often the one saying there should be aspect to it. We won’t see it instantly, however maybe we’ll perceive it tomorrow.
Then I transfer shortly to the subsequent query: what can we do now? We can’t keep in the identical place, going over what has occurred.
He would inform you I’m powerful, but additionally that I’m the one that says: “This is temporary. Give it time. Let’s focus on what we can do next.”
What does the enterprise get from you that the folks closest to you typically have to go with out?
My time. The enterprise will get a lot of my time.
Even when I’m not working, it’s on the back of my thoughts. I may be at a household occasion and all of the sudden keep in mind one thing I used to be supposed to do.
These days, I maintain notes. If one thing happens to me when I’m doing one thing else, I write it down so I can return to it later.
I is likely to be someplace doing one thing fully unrelated to Agriflex, however Agriflex remains to be there in my ideas. It takes a whole lot of my time and psychological power.
You have acquired recognition on your work. After the images and congratulations, which downside is often nonetheless ready in your desk? Has an award ever helped you resolve it?
The downside is all the time getting the fitting inputs to our prospects on the proper time. Whether I’m within the discipline, receiving an award or talking someplace, that want stays.
You can by no means appear to have sufficient. The extra you’ll be able to provide, the extra prospects want from you.
Awards have helped by giving us recognition and credibility. Some buyers perceive how rigorous specific programmes or award processes are. When they know you’ve gotten gone by means of these phases, it might make the dialog simpler and the method sooner, even should you don’t in the end get the reply you hoped for.
Recognition has additionally helped us meet buyers who’re a greater match. One of our greatest fundraising challenges early on was being within the flawed rooms with the flawed buyers.
Some awards and programmes present persevering with help. For instance, the ladies entrepreneurs award we acquired by means of AGRA final month comes with help that continues past the award itself. These programmes can have a look at completely different features of the enterprise and advocate issues that assist us enhance.
Some awards additionally include cash, which matches into the enterprise.
So sure, they’ve helped: by means of credibility, connections, monetary help and ongoing steering.
Suppose we meet once more over lunch in ten years. What would have to be true about Agriflex, and about your life exterior it, for you to say, “Adonijah, this was worth it”?
I take into consideration development otherwise now. We need managed development.
In ten years, I would love us to be working nicely in no less than 5 African international locations. By then, I don’t anticipate to be the CEO.
I would like the enterprise to be working totally, with another person main it whereas I maybe serve in an advisory function.
I would love Agriflex to be recognised in Kenya, throughout Africa and internationally as an organization that has been resilient and develop into sustainably worthwhile.
That would give me pleasure: seeing another person take the reins and proceed constructing an important enterprise.
True scale calls for transferring past surface-level integrations to strong execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the convention strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, international monetary operators, enterprise leaders and people rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
