Jehiel Oliver (Hello Tractor)
Jehiel Oliver is the founder of Hello Tractor, an agricultural technology social enterprise focused on improving food and income security for the rural poor, beginning in Nigeria. Hello Tractor has developed a low-cost Smart Tractor – embedded with GPS/telematics – which connect the real tractors to a cloud-based software. Hello Tractor’s software pairs Smart Tractor owners with farmers who can text for tractor services, all coordinated in the cloud. Through its mobile app, the startup connects tractor owners and smallholder farmers, helps track revenue share, tractor usage and schedule periodic maintenance.Hello Tractor has worked with 22,500 farmers in Nigeria & Kenya helping them achieve a 200% increase in yields.
In a recent partnership with John Deere and the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture, the startup will help implement a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model to bring 10,000 new tractors to Nigerian Farmers across the next five years in close coordination with top stakeholders across the public and private sector, including commercial banks, private tractor service providers, dealers, and small-to-medium scale farmers.
Jehiel is responsible for the overall management and strategy of Hello Tractor. Prior to Hello Tractor, Jehiel founded Aya Consulting, a boutique development. At Aya he worked in over ten countries, including conflict zones. Through his work in agriculture and rural markets, Jehiel recognized a real need for low-income (majority women) farmers to access affordable farm machinery, leading him to found Hello Tractor.
He has been honored with numerous awards for his work in social entrepreneurship including being recognized by Foreign Policy Magazine as a Top 100 Global Thinker for 2016. He was appointed under the Obama Administration as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, where he chaired the technology subcommittee. Prior to Hello Tractor, Oliver worked in consulting and investment banking. Outside of work, Oliver remains active serving on the board of Shared Interest and H4H, both impact investment funds focused in sub-Saharan Africa.
