‘One on One with Isaac Sesi, The man bringing life to agriculture through technology.’

Isaac Sesi is an entrepreneur, engineer and software developer. He is the Founder and CEO of Invent Electronics, an online store which sells electronic components. He is also Co-Founder and CEO at Wires & Bytes , a software development company, and Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Nova Agrisystems, a tech inclined agriculture enterprise.

He studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at KNUST.

Isaac got interested in technology while in high school and taught himself how to program and build electronic devices. Since then he has been looking for opportunities to apply his tech knowledge to solve global problems across the continent. Early in 2016, he met Benedict Kusi Ampofo, a 5th year medical student with a passion for Agric. Together with another friend, David Ablordey; they set out with an ambitious goal; to tackle poverty and unemployment in Africa through their company, Nova Agrisystems.

Nova Agrisystems develops low cost technology tools for small scale farmers to help them increase yield and maximize profit. Their products include remote farm monitoring systems and automated drip irrigation systems. They also have farms which produce good quality affordable crop produce for many local markets and also provide personalized extension services for farmers

Agriculture has a lot of untapped potential.

I realized there was so much potential in agriculture just lying untapped. Africa has the largest proportion of arable land compared to all other continents yet millions of people are unemployed and many die of hunger related diseases each day.

Small scale farmers in Africa were growing 80% of the food we eat here but were living in poverty, barely making enough money to take care of their families.

Having identified these problems, my quest to be part of the solution caused me to jump aboard the agric ship

Agriculture can be used to solve Ghana’s current economic issues.

Agriculture employs over 4 million people in Ghana yet the percentage contribution of Agriculture to national GDP keeps decreasing every year because farms generate less than 50%.

With more attention given to the sector, agriculture could contribute over twice its current contribution to Ghana’s GDP and create more jobs.

For instance, we could have factories processing some of the crops we produce instead of exporting them to be processed overseas.

We could also invest in making Agriculture attractive to the youth so that we have more people going into Agriculture.

In both instances, jobs will be created, revenue will be generated, the economy will improve and people will be happier.

How long have you been into farming?

About 2 years now

My partners on this project

Apart from me, there are three other partners; Benedict Kusi Ampofo, our CEO, who is a 5 the year medical student, David Ablordey,our Chief Marketing Officer who is Agric graduate from KNUST and Mr Daniel Agyei, a certified farmer and our farm manager.

Where is your farm located?

Our farms are located in Banso and Bankame, near Juaso in the Ashanti Region

Source of Finance

Our main source of funds come from proceeds from the sale of farm produce we’ve also received a number of grants for our technology division within the past year

In 2017

Definitely, in the coming year we hope to expand our farm sizes and reaches more farmers with our services and we are looking for investors to partner with us.

Our target for this year

We want to get at least 5000 farmers in 50 farming communities using our farm monitoring and drip irrigation systems.

We also hope to expand our farms to up to 300 acres and grow a wider variety of crops

Some of the hurdles you encountered during the early days of this project

Getting land for our farm was a huge challenge initially. Also developing our farm monitoring systems came with a unique set of technological barriers and challenges especially in sourcing the electronic components needed but we are sailing through.

Pillars of success for my farm

Very good agronomy practices, irrigation, innovation and thinking outside the box. Our farm manager is literally an Agriculture encyclopedia so our farmers always use the best practices which ensure that we make maximum yield. Also we have set up our own mini irrigation system to make sure that our most critical plants have water at all times.

We also package our produce attractively so people prefer them.

Crops we produce? Point of selling harvested crops

Currently we grow cocoa, plantain, cocoyam, tomatoes, pepper and rice. We currently sell our produce in local markets in Kumasi and Accra.

Contributions is My company is looking to provide to support national development

We are developing services which help farmers to increase yield and maximize profits. Hence we are helping 4 million farmers in Ghana increase their standard of living and come out of poverty. We are equipping them with tools to help them produce more, meaning that they can help increase Agriculture’s overall contribution to Ghana’s GDP leading to an improvement in the economy as a whole.

Also, our farms are creating jobs for many people and giving them a means of livelihood, our food produce is helping to feed the nation and our taxes are direct source of revenue for the country.

Do you enjoy farming? Tell us why

Absolutely! it feels great to be into farming. I feel special, unique, and different. Doing what most people my age won’t do. The sight of crops being harvested and transported to the market is fulfilling. The sight of sensors embedded inside farms, recording data which I can view on my phone and knowing that I am part of a team developing innovative technology which could very much become the next big thing in Agriculture in Africa within the next few years in extremely exhilarating…so yeah I enjoy farming.

My experience so far.

It’s been great. I have had to learn a lot of new things and push my limits, and that is a wonderful experience.

Advice to the youth who looks down on farming as a source of employment

Agriculture isn’t only meant for the poor people in the village. The potential in Agriculture cannot be overemphasized. There are many people who have become very successful because of Agriculture.

It is the answer to many pressing needs in Africa; unemployment, hunger, poverty, etc. It could be the single most important area which can boost the nation’s economy dramatically.

Instead of joining many graduates to chase after the few white collar jobs left around, just try agriculture and you’ll not be disappointed.

Final words.

No one is too young to start something. Get up; decide to be a change maker. Dare to be different. Do something which will impact society around you, no matter how small it us. You’ll find life more fulfilling when you realize you are a solution to someone’s problem.

Just Do It!