#83: Uka Eje - On ThriveAgric's Turnaround and Making Hard Decisions

Building The Future Podcast

This season of Building the Future was made possible by Moniepoint

My guest today is Uka Eje, the co-founder and CEO of ThriveAgric. I've known Uka since 2017, when he and his co-founder, Ayo, received their first institutional investment from Ventures Platform.

ThriveAgric empowers nearly one million smallholder farmers on the continent with technology, credit, and access-to-market. The company started as an idea between two classmates, and their journey so far has involved overcoming operational and financial hurdles, surviving a near collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic, pivoting, and maturing into one of the most impactful businesses in Africa.

This year, ThriveAgric was recognized by the Financial Times as one of Africa’s fastest-growing companies, with partnerships with major offtakers like Flour Mills of Nigeria, Dangote Foods, and Nestle.

In this episode, we discussed:.

• The uniqueness and importance of ThriveAgric’s business model, including how they enable capital and market access for smallholder farmers, organizing them into efficient production clusters, resulting in significant yield increases.
• The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including logistical disruptions, and how ThriveAgric fortified its risk management and operational capabilities.
• The pivotal decision to bring in a more experienced CEO, Adia Sowho, to help rebuild stakeholder trust, stabilize operations, and refocus efforts towards the company’s long-term growth.
• Uka’s growth as a leader through the different phases of the company’s journey.

I am grateful to Uka for having an honest conversation with me. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Book Recommendation: The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Quote: “Quite a number of people asked me why stepping down was the solution for Thrive Agric. My response was pretty simple, although the process was not easy for me emotionally, considering we built this business, myself and my co-founder, right?

But we had to ask ourselves a question: ‘what is most important to us, that this business survives and it continues to be a scalable business, or the idea that it’s on record that there was a step down?’ [...] We also had to think about the future of the business. We wanted to build something for the long haul. [...] people need to trust you enough to do business with you”

CREDITS

Host: Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku
Produced by: The Subtext
Editing: Osarumen Osamuyi, Chinedu Anatune
Show Notes: Grace Obaloluwa
Design: Jonathan Nwachukwu
Voice Overs & Project Coordination: Damilola Teidi
Season Intro Video: Chukwuka Ezeiruaku