Leveraging his technological expertise, he has developed solutions that significantly enhance the livelihoods of small-scale farmers. The transformative impact of his innovations has earned him numerous accolades and awards.

Senegalese entrepreneur Mouhamadou Lamine Kebe (photo), co-founder and CEO of Tolbi, is using technology to enhance the management and monitoring of agricultural crops, contributing to food security. Established in 2020, Tolbi is an agritech startup that develops sustainable agriculture solutions based on artificial intelligence and satellite imagery.

The company’s e-Tolbi tool aids farmers in monitoring millions of hectares of plantations. Leveraging AI and satellite imagery, the tool can estimate and predict yields, calculate input requirements, and anticipate risks associated with climate hazards, diseases, and pests.

Tolbi supports farmers by providing them access to weather information through various methods, including automated calls in the local language. This assistance helps farmers become more resilient to climate change and increase their yields and income.

Kebe, a member of the Internet Society’s executive committee since 2018 and a 2020 graduate of the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique de Dakar, explained in 2022 why he decided to establish Tolbi. He noted that existing technologies were not adapted to the African social context, were expensive, and often in French or English, making them inaccessible in rural areas with limited internet connectivity.

Kebe, who served as a local coordinator of the China Hardware Innovation Camp program in 2019 and an advisor to the “entrepreneurship and innovation” unit at the Ecole supérieure polytechnique de Dakar in 2020, has received numerous awards for Tolbi. These include the President of the Republic’s Grand Prize for Digital Innovation in 2020 and second place in the 2021 Num-Urb competition for digital technology for urban development.

Melchior Koba