Ugandan startup Sandi AI leverages farmer savings groups to help smallholders purchase solar irrigation equipment, bypassing the need for loans, collateral or credit scores and addressing the challenge of agricultural finance access.
Founded in 2021 by Douglas Albert Kikonyogo, Sandi AI allows farmer groups to register through WhatsApp, USSD or its mobile platform.
Members select the irrigation equipment they need, while their existing savings are pooled to purchase equipment for one member at a time until the entire group is equipped.
“This allows farmers to move from saving cash together to saving toward ownership of productive agricultural technologies,” Kikonyogo said.
The model was shaped by Kikonyogo’s experience growing up in rural Uganda, where he saw his family struggle with drought and the cost of irrigation.
“The main problem was not that irrigation technology did not exist. The problem was that many farmers could not afford it,” he said. “Banks wanted collateral and land titles, while suppliers wanted full payment upfront and digital lenders wanted credit histories.”
Instead of lending directly, Sandi AI digitises the savings-group model and connects groups to irrigation equipment and agricultural services. Kikonyogo said this removes the risk of farmers having equipment repossessed because of missed loan payments.
The startup has registered more than 10,000 farmer groups representing over 301,000 people, according to AGRA, and has facilitated acquisition of more than $4 million worth of irrigation and agricultural technologies.
Sandi AI operates mainly in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, with plans to expand into Zambia and Malawi, where savings groups are already widely used.
The company generates revenue through transaction fees, supplier commissions, direct product sales and agricultural data and advisory services.
It has also had to build supplier, installation and support networks in rural areas while addressing limited connectivity and digital literacy.
“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.
Sandi AI has expanded beyond equipment access into farm intelligence.
In June, it introduced a soil-moisture tool that uses sensors installed at root depth and combines readings with local weather forecasts, crop water requirements and soil characteristics. The resulting guidance is available free to members of its savings groups.
The company says farmers using its full package can save up to 90% of water, although that claim is company-reported and has not been independently verified.
The wider opportunity is significant. The African Development Bank has said only about 6% of African smallholder farmers have access to credit, highlighting the scale of the financing challenge facing the continent’s agricultural producers.
Sandi AI is effectively betting that existing community finance structures can provide an alternative route into productive assets while technology reduces the cost of organising and monitoring those groups.
The startup recently secured further recognition when Nabakka Sandra, co-founder of Sandi AI Technologies, was named one of the two 2026 GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Grand Prize winners.
She received $50,000 in growth funding at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. AGRA said the prize recognised Sandi AI’s use of artificial intelligence and rural savings groups to help farmers access solar-powered irrigation without traditional loans or collateral.
The 2026 GoGettaz competition awarded two $50,000 grand prizes, one to a female-led venture and one to a male-led venture from a total prize pool of $160,000.
For Sandi AI, the next test is whether its savings-group model can scale across borders while maintaining farmer trust, reliable equipment supply and the digital infrastructure needed to support thousands of rural communities.
If it succeeds, the model would demonstrate that agricultural finance does not always have to begin with a bank loan. It can start with how farmers already save, then use technology to turn those savings into productive assets.
