Close the Finance Gap for Women Smallholder Farmers

Female smallholders in Nigeria face a triple barrier to agricultural credit: lack of land title in their name, no formal credit history, and financial products designed around male household heads. The result is that women farm on undercapitalised plots with second-hand inputs, producing yields well below their potential. Your challenge is to design a financial product — a savings account, loan product, input-credit scheme, or hybrid — specifically for women smallholder farmers in one Nigerian state. It must be accessible without a bank account as a prerequisite and must address at least one of the three barriers described above. Submit a product design document (max 10 pages) covering: target segment, product structure, how collateral or creditworthiness is assessed without land titles, delivery channel, and a financial model showing sustainability at scale. Judging criteria: 35% design fit for target users, 30% risk management approach, 20% financial sustainability, 15% scalability beyond pilot.