Jerry Oche

Jerry Chis Oche is a Nigerian entrepreneur, economist and agricultural technology specialist with extensive experience in business development, digital innovation and agricultural value chain transformation. He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zowasel, an agricultural technology and finance company focused on improving market access, financial inclusion and sustainability for smallholder farmers across Africa.
His professional career began in marketing, advertising and business development, where he gained experience managing commercial projects and developing technology-driven business solutions. In 2011, he founded Street Toolz, a digital marketing and communications agency that provided services to major organisations, including the World Bank Group, British Council, Union Bank of Nigeria and several multinational brands. He led the company until 2017, when he redirected his entrepreneurial focus towards agricultural technology and financial inclusion.
In 2015, Mr. Oche founded Zowasel to address longstanding challenges confronting African farmers, particularly limited access to structured markets, affordable financing and transparent commodity pricing. Drawing inspiration from his family's agricultural background, he developed the company into a technology-enabled agricultural marketplace connecting farmers, cooperatives, commodity merchants and institutional buyers. Zowasel has subsequently expanded its activities across Nigeria and East Africa, including Kenya and Tanzania.
Under his leadership, Zowasel has developed technology solutions that integrate agricultural commodity trading, alternative credit assessment and digital supply chain management. Its platforms include the Alternative Credit Evaluation Scoring System (ACESS), which supports agricultural financing decisions, and Crop Pilot, which provides agricultural monitoring, traceability and sustainability reporting. These solutions apply data science and artificial intelligence to improve agricultural productivity, strengthen supply chain transparency and facilitate access to financing.
Mr. Oche has also led strategic partnerships with international development organisations and major agribusinesses. In 2024, Zowasel partnered with IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, to strengthen Nigeria's sorghum value chain through regenerative agriculture and structured market access. The programme was designed to integrate 4,500 smallholder farmers in Oyo and Kwara States into commercial supply chains over three years. By early 2025, the initiative had supported more than 2,500 farmers and facilitated the direct supply of 320 metric tonnes of sorghum to Guinness Nigeria.
His professional achievements include winning the Financial Inclusion Challenge at the 2018 Visa Everywhere Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2021, Zowasel emerged among the winners of the United Nations World Food Programme's Zero Hunger Sprint, receiving ?42 million in funding support. The company subsequently received the Most Promising AgTech Award at the 2024 Mercy Corps AgriFin Learning Event in Nairobi. In 2025, Mr. Oche was selected among the Meaningful Business 100, a global recognition of leaders addressing social and environmental challenges through enterprise.
Jerry Oche continues to advance agricultural technology, digital financial inclusion and sustainable commodity trading across Africa. Through his leadership at Zowasel, he promotes the development of more efficient agricultural markets and improved economic opportunities for smallholder farmers.