Synnefa

In 2014, while studying at the University of Nairobi, Taita Ngetich noticed a devastating problem facing African farmers: abundant harvests that rotted before they could reach markets due to poor post-harvest drying infrastructure. Smallholder farmers were losing up to 50% of their crops - the very crops they depended on for income and food security. This realization sparked a mission to build technology that would make farming profitable and sustainable for Africa's millions of smallholder farmers. So he founded Synnefa (originally Illuminum Greenhouses), a company dedicated to solving the complex challenges at the intersection of climate risk, market access, and agricultural productivity.

What began with smart greenhouses has evolved into a comprehensive ecosystem of hardware and software solutions. Synnefa now builds IoT-enabled smart solar dryers that reduce drying time by half and preserve crop quality, FarmShield™ sensors that monitor growing conditions in real-time, and FarmCloud™ software that digitizes farm records and connects farmers to buyers and financing. Today, more than 32,000 farmers across 13 African countries use Synnefa's solutions, and the company partners with NGOs, cooperatives, and governments to deploy climate-smart farming systems that eliminate risk and increase incomes.