In 2010, two Kenyan women, Jamila Abbas and Susan Oguya, were angered by newspaper reports about middlemen exploiting small farmers. In response, the two IT professionals launched M-Farm, a company that sends farmers real-time crop prices and market information via SMS, connecting them directly with food exporters and cutting out the middlemen. Now, less than two years later, M-Farm reaches more than 2,000 farmers in Kenya, including many female smallholders, and has won several international awards.Abbas and Oguya represent a new class of female innovators. They have built a profitable business that empowers women, and that contributes to a more open and inclusive society. It is women like them – entrepreneurs who found companies, create jobs, and lead the way toward gender equality in the developing world – whom we will celebrate on the 101st International Women’s Day on March 8.
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