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Kenyan startup VunaPay is an agri-fintech company that addresses the issue of delayed payments for smallholder farmers by providing instant payout solutions. Founded in 2023 by Gatwiri Njogu-Mokaya (CEO), Koya Matsuno (COO), and Ian Wambai (CTO), VunaPay partners with agricultural cooperatives to facilitate automated payment processing, record management, and transparent financial transactions. It also offers cooperative management tools, including inventory tracking and real-time farmer data management, ensuring efficiency and trust in the agricultural value chain. Matsuno said the startup had identified that smallholder farmers face significant cash flow challenges due to delayed payments from cooperatives. “This often forces them to sell produce to middlemen at reduced prices or rely on high-interest predatory loans. VunaPay’s instant payout system addresses this gap,” he said. “Competition includes informal middlemen and predatory lending apps, but VunaPay distinguishes itself by integrating technology with cooperatives to ensure fair and timely payments.” VunaPay is funded by VCs such as 54 Collective and Lifetime Ventures, and has also received some grant funding from Heifer International and MIT Solve. It has onboarded 30 cooperatives in three value chains, registered over 20,000 farmers on its platform, and been selected for various accelerator programmes – Antler, MIT Solve, and Safaricom Spark. “The company has onboarded over 20,000 farmers with 100,000 on waitlist across Kenya and is scaling rapidly. Farmers and cooperatives have shown strong interest due to the transparency and efficiency of the platform. Demand continues to grow, with thousands more expressing interest. VunaPay has also facilitated approximately KES70 million (US$550,000) in payment so far,” said Matsuno. VunaPay so far only operates in Kenya, focusing primarily on coffee, maize, and dairy cooperatives. It plans to expand into other agricultural value chains, such as tea, and aims to increase its geographical reach within Kenya and eventually to other countries in Africa.India's Smartphone Surge: A 5G and Chipset RevolutionHow big fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroadAll things being equal, the National Assembly may pass the 2025 budget in the first week of February, a competent source has said. Senate spokesperson, Senator Adeyemi Adaramodu, hinting on the passage, explained that the joint committee on appropriation of the two chambers of the National Assembly would present their report on the N49.7 trillion 2025 Appropriation Bill for consideration and approval on January 31. The fiscal legislation was laid before the joint session of the federal legislature by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, December 18. The red and the green chambers, at their separate plenary sessions on December 19, passed the money bill for second reading after the federal lawmakers debated its general principles. The National Assembly subsequently adjourned plenary to January 14, to enable the legislators to celebrate Christmas and New Year in their various constituencies. The development came barely 24 hours after the president laid the estimates before the National Assembly. President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, had before the upper chamber adjourned plenary on December 18, asked the Committee on Appropriation in the red chamber to work on the budget proposal within four weeks. Akpabio also informed his colleagues that they might be recalled from their holiday if the need arose. Investigation by THISDAY in Abuja, on Sunday, revealed that the leadership of the National Assembly had met and designed a timetable that would enable it pass the budget in the first week of February 2025. A copy of the timetable sent to each of the lawmakers, and sighted by THISDAY, also revealed that the joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriations would meet with Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, on January 7, 2025 at 2pm. The meeting would also be attended by Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, and Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, among others. The floor would then be opened for the heads of the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the federal government and their accounting officers to defend their budget estimates before the joint appropriation sub-committees of the federal legislature. The exercise, according to the timetable, would take place from January 8 to January 15, 2025. It revealed that the laying, presentation, and possible approval of the report by the appropriation committee would be on January 31, 2025, and subsequently passed first week in February. Adaramodu, in an interview, said the subcommittees on appropriation had been directed to start engaging the MDAs from January 8. “Full activities on the 2025 Appropriation Bill will commence second week in January. The joint committees of Senate and House of Representatives will start meeting with MDAs on January 7. Final report will be laid on 31st January,” he stated. Sunday Aborisade Follow us on:

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