Thomas Njeru

Smallholder farmers are often just one drought or flood away from a crisis. As the global climate shifts to be hotter and less predictable, the risk they face only stands to grow. Thomas Njeru, the co-founder and CEO of Pula, a Nairobi-based microinsurance business that serves over 20 million farmers across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, saw these challenges firsthand while growing up in rural Kenya. “After a drought, it would take farmers up to five years to get back to where they were because they don’t have money to replant,” he says. Pula’s insurance payouts, totaling over $120 million, allow them to bounce back more quickly. Pula leverages on-the-ground and satellite data with its own AI models to calculate premiums, keeping costs low. This innovative approach gives financial institutions the confidence to extend credit to farmers—leading to a 16% rise in investment and an impressive 56% yield boost for Pula-insured farms. In the spring, Pula itself secured $20 million from investors—a sizable sum Njeru plans to put toward a rapid expansion, with the goal of reaching 100 million small-scale farmers by 2029.