Saturday, October 4, 2025
24.7 C
Lagos

Olam Wins Impact Award for Digital Platform that Empowers Smallholder Farmers

Olam has been recognised for making a difference in farmers’ lives through its Olam Direct platform at Innovation Leader’s 2020 Impact Awards.

Now in its third year, Innovation Leader’s Impact Awards honour companies with corporate innovation initiatives that have run for at least a year and delivered extraordinary outcomes with measurable business results.

Olam’s entry for ‘Olam Direct’ emerged as a winner in the Impact Award category, having earned the recognition of an esteemed judging panel from organisations including Verizon, Philips Healthcare, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, CME Group, Dover Corporation, Duke Energy and Cambia Health Solutions.

Powered by apps, a portal and an analytics dashboard, Olam Direct is a holistic platform connecting farmers with Olam to ensure a fair and transparent sourcing process for all.

The app empowers farmers to get prices and transact directly with the company rather than going through intermediaries, which yields not only higher prices for farmers but cost savings on their expenses, as Olam manages ‘last mile’ collection.

The highlights of Olam Direct include that the initiative registered and benefited over 70,000 farmers across 12 countries, allowing them to transact with or without internet; each transaction is geo-tagged and timestamped allowing for traceability and consistency; unique value proposition provides traceability, allowing customers to get greater transparency on farmer activities and created new employment opportunities for rural communities by appointing former intermediaries as micro-collectors for Olam Direct.

Siddharth Satpute, Group Head of Digital, Olam International, said, “We are honoured by this recognition. Our aim is to bring transparency and traceability to the agriculture supply chain. Many under-estimate how difficult it can be to establish direct buying relationships with farmers in very rural areas; and, equally, for farmers to connect to large exporters.

Through our Indonesia pilot in 2017, we understood that a farmer’s’ greatest needs are: ‘How can I get a better price?’ and ‘Who can collect and pay me on time?’ Olam Direct is the resulting model, although we continue to learn and improve with every new supply chain and country’s specific circumstances. Crucially, the platform’s reach and flexibility has proved invaluable during COVID-19 as we have been able to issue health advisories and raise awareness about the virus through in-app notifications and news in the farmers’ local language.

Scott Kirsner, CEO and editor-in-chief of Innovation Leader said: “2020 has been an incredibly challenging year for innovators in big organizations. So, we’re really excited to be able to shine a spotlight on some of the people and programmes that have been creating positive change. The Impact Awards are all about people who keep moving ahead, no matter what the obstacles — and that’s something really worth celebrating this year!

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img

Hot this week

Adopt-A-School initiative: Stanbic IBTC Upgrades Educational Landscape at Alegbo Primary School, Delta State

L-R: Bunmi Dayo-Olagunju, Deputy CE, Stanbic IBTC Bank; Dr....

Stanbic IBTC FUZE Talent Show 2025 Kicks Off 4th Season

The Stanbic IBTC FUZE Talent Show 2025, themed “The...

Polaris Bank, NCF Expand Tree Planting Drive to Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna States

Polaris Bank, in partnership with the Nigeria Conservation Foundation...

Sterling Bank: No More Account Maintenance Fees to Celebrate Independence Day

  Sterling Bank has once again redefined the boundaries of...

UN Scribe Appoints First African, Adedoyin Adeleke, Co-Chair of Independent Group of Scientists for 2027 Global Sustainable Development Report

Green Growth Africa proudly announces the appointment of its Executive Director,...

Topics

NCC Plans Stakeholder Engagement on 5G in Lagos Nov 4

As part of activities lined up for the implementation...

Banks’ Non-Performing Loans Top N1.6Tr in June 2016

Banks operating in Nigeria accumulated non-performing loans of over...

Seplat Explains Incident Involving Depthwize Majestic Rig near Ovhor, Delta State

Seplat Energy provides an update to the previous announcement...

NCC Suspends Data Price Hike

Following the concerns that visited the directive to introduce...

Non-Implementation of Guaranteed Minimum Pension:Increasing Apathy to Join/Remain in the Contributory Pension Scheme

By Dr. Pius Apere (PhD/FCII) (Actuarial Scientist and Chartered Insurer) Chairman/CEO,...

The Power of Faith to End Extreme Poverty by 2030

Over 30 leaders from major world religions and heads...

Expert Laments Low Insurance Penetration Despite Youth Population

Dr. Akeem Oyewale, the Chief Executive Officer of Marble...
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories

spot_imgspot_img