Venture Spotlight: Lima Technologies

The Health Entrepreneurship (HENT) Challenge’s first cohort is getting ready for their upcoming visit to Toronto, where they will continue their implementation phase through activities targeting business development, expanding entrepreneurial networks and facilitating exposure to potential investors.

In the meantime, the HENT Communications team caught up with the ventures from the first HENT Challenge cohort to learn more about the origins of their companies, what they’ve learned to date, and what is coming up next…

Ariane Umuringa (CEO), Alexis Juma (COO), Lawrence Njihia (CFO), and Peter Musyoki (CTO) were drawn together by their shared drive to create impactful solutions for Africa’s 33 million small-holder farmers. They founded Lima Technologies, a venture informed by their shared backgrounds as the children and grandchildren of farmers. They knew that small-holder farmers never seemed to earn what was commensurate to their efforts and often did not know where best to sell their products. This lack of knowledge caused many farmers to miss out on opportunities to earn money and created food waste as buyers were unaware of where to source produce outside of the market.

Through Lima Technologies web application, they aim to tackle nutrition and supply chain inefficiencies of food in Africa through a centralized digital platform that allows for food predictability, traceability, and reliability by leveraging data, allowing enterprises to better feed Africa’s 1.2 billion people and empowering farmers to earn from their produce. The Lima Technologies web application allows farmer produce to be posted and enables buyers to browse through a catalogue of available produce, make a payment, and have their produce directly delivered to them—all within their platform.

What is the accomplishment to date that your team is most proud of?  

Lima Technologies is most proud of their first ever sale, which was for 5 tons of sunflowers. This first sale was to a client who became a recurring customer who uses their platform for each harvest.  Another proud milestone is the development of their minimum viable product that they are using to do pilot projects with farmers and buyers.

If you could give advice to another founder getting started, what would that be?  

“Do not be afraid of failure when innovating. If anything, fail fast and learn faster.”

Lima Technologies will be officially launched their product in May 2023. Looking forward to the next two years, the venture is looking to onboard more than 10,000 farmers onto their platform and expand their service to include storage and farm input access. 

You can learn more about Lima Technologies by visiting their website.


You can learn more about Lima Technologies

More News & Events

Scroll with the left and right arrow keys

Candidate Nominations for the ALU Public Sector Fellowship Program

African Leadership University (ALU) is thrilled to share an exceptional opportunity for public sector leaders championing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) projects. The ALU Public Sector Fellowship, now entering its third year, is a dynamic, 8-month, part-time program designed to empower leaders with essential skills to elevate service delivery and tackle Africa’s pressing […]

[Watch] Heavy Risk – An Environmental & Occupational Health Documentary

In Ghana’s Shama District, the rice fields of Whin Valley hold immense agricultural potential, providing food and livelihoods to the local community and beyond. But beneath this fertile land, a hidden story unfolds. Three Mastercard Foundation Scholars from the University of Toronto set out to explore how local farming practices and nearby #Galamsey (illegal mining) […]

From Bedside to Big Data: A Nurse’s Transition to Health Informatics 

In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, the intersection of clinical expertise and technological innovation is where the most significant impacts are made. My journey from nursing to health informatics is a testament to this shift—a journey that began with hands-on patient care and led me to the forefront of digital health solutions. This transition wasn’t […]

African Women Innovating in Health Care

This year, FemSTEM Africa engaged over 200 health innovators and enthusiasts through a series of events, concluding in a pitch competition and interactions with seasoned entrepreneurs. The five-part event series was organized by the University of Toronto’s Health Innovation Hub (H2i) in partnership with Social Enterprise (SE) Ghana, Sustineri Attorneys,  supported by funding from the […]