Ghanaian technology firm, ESOKO, has received a $1.25 million equity investment from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the Soros Economic Development Fund. The investment in Esoko will give smallholder farmers and businesses in Ghana and other African countries timely crop information that can be shared via text messaging, enabling farmers to increase their incomes. The Esoko technology takes advantage of the mobile phone and the internet to provide current agriculture and market trends to interest groups within the agriculture and trade sectors. Through its network of enumerators in 31 markets in Ghana, ESOKO is able to provide market prices on various agricultural commodities directly unto the mobile phones of farmers. Managing Director of Esoko Ghana, Bernard Otabil has told Luv FM the additional investment from the IFC and SEDF is a manifestation of growing confidence in the business. According to him, the funding offers ESOKO the opportunity to sustain support for farmers over a long term. “Funding provides you the opportunity to actually implement your plan on paper and before anyone commits to taking up any investment in any organization, they have to be really sure that over the long term, the return on investment will be achieved. “We know what our critical market really is; we have a plan in terms of making sure every farmer everywhere have access to the information that we provide. We are committed to improving livelihoods to help them to achieve their goals of poverty alleviation and also overall contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals”, Mr. Otabil stated. The ESOKO software is currently being used in nine African countries. Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh