Jehiel Oliver: 'The motivation for me has always been to do meaningful work that is commercially sustainable and scalable'

Q&A with the social entrepreneur on the challenges smallholder farmers face, the sharing economy in sub-Saharan Africa, and the importance of pursuing meaningful work.

Jehiel Oliver is the founder of Hello Tractor, an agricultural technology company that connects tractor owners and farmers through a farm equipment sharing application. Jehiel has been honoured with numerous awards for his work in social entrepreneurship including being recognised by Foreign Policy Magazine as a Top 100 Global Thinker for 2016. 

What fundamental belief system inspired the creation of Hello Tractor?

Before founding Hello Tractor, I worked in the global finance and agriculture sector, where I got to see firsthand the challenges smallholder farmers face in accessing machinery to cultivate their land. Tractors and other farm equipment are expensive and financing is almost non-existent. I realised that farmers having access to a tractor is as good as owning one. This was the rationale behind founding Hello Tractor. By leveraging technology, Hello Tractor disrupts the agricultural industry across sub-Saharan Africa and introduces a new, shared economy model that can scale across continents.

What’s something you do every day that is non-negotiable for you?

There are two things I do every day without fail: start my day off with a cup of coffee before the day’s craziness kicks in and end it by having dinner with my wife and daughters and spending quality time with them.

What are the formative ingredients in your childhood that came to create your perspective?

The motivation for me has always been to do meaningful work that is commercially sustainable and scalable. Growing up, I always saw myself as a social entrepreneur despite not knowing what the term was. I have always wanted to do impactful work, and as my awareness has broadened, so has the scope of my work. I was always involved in volunteer work and was thoughtful about the kind of work I was engaged in. I would often ask myself questions like what creates sustainability? Who knows best what is needed for a community to become sustainable? What kind of assistance can be provided and who should deliver the service? How can I make a difference?

I started my career in investment banking and was focused at that time on developing a skillset to help lower-income communities raise capital. It is this mindset that led me to the path I’m on at the moment; trying to improve the productivity, income and livelihood of smallholder farmers across emerging markets.

What do you consider to be one of the greatest challenges for developing a business on the African continent?

The lack of infrastructure across the continent is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to setting up a business in Africa. For any business to operate successfully, basic needs such as good road networks, access to fast internet services, constant power supply as well as proper transportation systems, need to be provided by the government. Unfortunately, for many African countries, these factors are still unresolved and they affect a business’s ability to deliver quality goods and services in a timely manner. While many businesses have been able to overcome some of these challenges by investing in backup generators or solar energy for power, and purchasing unlimited data from internet service providers, it’s not a feasible option for a lot of smaller businesses.

Building a company from scratch takes grit. What drives you on?

I’m motivated by the impact that we’re able to make in the lives of thousands of smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa. Knowing that the work we’re doing is not only improving their productivity and livelihoods but also benefiting their families by freeing up household labour, and making it easier for their children to go to school, is all the motivation I need to keep grinding every day.

There are a tremendous number of opportunities on the African continent. How do you stay focused on your journey?

I allow my passion to do meaningful work that impacts the lives of low-income farmers continue to be my source of motivation. It’s easy to get caught up in the plethora of business opportunities that exist in the African market such that one could end up losing sight of why they started their company in the first place. To avoid getting tangled in this web, I’ve formed the habit of always staying grounded and keeping things in perspective. This has helped me stay focused and pull through even when we encounter the toughest business challenges.

If you could do it all again, what would you have done differently?

Honestly speaking, nothing. I believe that all the learnings and experiences we’ve had to navigate in establishing the company have all been useful in bringing us to where we are today. For example, the negative experience we faced in trying to sell 2-wheel tractors in the region when we first launched was what prompted our decision to pivot in early 2017 to being exclusively a software service provider after realising that this was the path that led to profitability while still providing a positive impact to the end-users. In addition, this shift allowed us to partner more closely with existing tractor manufacturers who no longer view us as a threat but as a partner in the space that can improve tractor utilisation. These opportunities would not have fallen through had we not encountered the challenges that we did.

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Jeph Acheampong leads Blossom Academy; an edtech company that provides world-class data courses and transforms careers.

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