DBG, PARTNERS, LAUNCH ‘BOA MI’ AT ICT SECTOR FINANCING ROUNDTABLE

The AI-powered agricultural finance platform goes live following pilot that generated over 8,500 farmer queries in three months

ACCRA,  10 September 2026; Development  Bank Ghana  LTD (DBG), Opportunity International (OI) and the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL), today jointly launched Boa Mi, an AI-powered agricultural finance platform built into WhatsApp, at the DBG ICT Sector Financing Roundtable in Accra.

Named after  the Akan  phrase “boa mi”, meaning  “help  me”,  the platform  gives smallholder farmers and agricultural extension agents instant, evidence-based agronomic guidance, and gives loan officers at financial institutions real-time agricultural portfolio intelligence, through WhatsApp. The platform currently operates in English, with local language versions including Twi, Dagbani, Ewe and Ga in development. Currently, it also works at no additional cost to users. The platform supports both text and voice, allowing farmers to ask questions and receive guidance in the format most natural to them.

The platform, developed under the working name “Farmer AI”, has been piloted among rice farmers, generating more than 8,500 advisory queries in three months and achieving a user satisfaction rate exceeding 75 percent. The result was the highest adoption rate of any Opportunity International Farmer AI deployment across the African continent.

Building on that foundation, the platform is now scaling to six other agricultural commodities and expanding its network of Participating Financial Institutions. The content behind the platform is Ghana-specific and commodity-specific, validated by GIRSAL’s agribusiness specialists, to ensure  it meets the needs of Ghanaian farming conditions.

Commenting on this development, Chief  Executive Officer (CEO)  of DBG, Professor Randolph  Nsor-Ambala  said  “”Ghana’s agricultural  sector has been sending one clear message for a very long time; ‘help me’. ‘Boa Mi’ is Ghana’s answer.” TheCEO added that the platform, “built by three institutions that understand both sides of that message, has been proven in the field by real farmers, and is ready to scale.”

Agricultural lending in Ghana has long been constrained by a two-sided information gap, with farmers lacking timely agronomic guidance while Lending Institutions have limited access to real-time crop and portfolio intelligence. Boa Mi on the other hand, addresses both challenges simultaneously by providing farmers and agricultural extension agents, instant  answers to agronomic questions  around  pest identification, crop management,

weather-related  advice  and input  recommendations, delivered  through WhatsApp in plain language, with voice support, at any time of day.

For Financial Institutions, “Boa Mi” serves as a digital de-risking tool that supports credit assessment, monitors active agricultural borrowers during the production cycle and provides early warning of portfolio risk before it becomes loan default.

“The world needs to grow more than twice as much food by 2050, and smallholder farmers are key to reaching that goal,” said Timothy Strong, Head of Agriculture Finance at Opportunity International. “Ghanaian farmers currently produce only

20%–30% of their potential yields. Boa Mi changes that by putting regionally specific, validated agronomic knowledge directly into their hands. Built together with Development Bank Ghana and GIRSAL on technology proven across Africa, Boa Mi is designed for Ghana, helping farmers here grow more, earn more, and reach their full potential.”

On his part, Mr. Samuel Yeboah, Chief Operating Officer of GIRSAL said, good agronomic advice  is tailored to specific  crops, seasons,  soils, and locations. “At GIRSAL, we help bridge farmers’  knowledge gaps by providing validated  technical  information while also reducing credit risk for financial institutions. Every recommendation on Boa Mi is customized  for Ghanaian conditions, taking into  account ecological  variability. This enables better decision-making for farmers, increases productivity, enhances loan performance, and improves access to sustainable agricultural financing,”  Mr. Yeboah added.

The Boa Mi platform is operational from today.

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— ENDS — Media Contact

Oswald  Felli, Head–Corporate Communications and External Affairs, Development Bank Ghana LTD., 0207845941, o.felli@dbg.com.gh, www.dbg.com.gh

Notes to Editors

About Development Bank Ghana LTD

Development Bank Ghana LTD is Ghana’s wholesale development finance institution, providing long-term concessional financing to 21 Participating Financial Institutions for on-lending to Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and small corporates across Ghana’s productive sectors of Agribusiness, Manufacturing, ICT and high-value services (Education, Tourism, Healthcare, etc). Since 2022, DBG has disbursed over GHS 2.5 billion to 942 enterprises, contributing to an estimated 41,000 jobs supported.

About Opportunity International

Opportunity International is a global nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to build their businesses, children to go to school, farmers to feed their communities, and families to end the cycle of generational poverty. For over 50 years, the organisation has developed innovative programmes that use financial services, training, and support to address some of the greatest challenges facing those living in poverty around the world.

About GIRSAL

The Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) is a non- banking financial institution established to de-risk agricultural financing and stimulate increased lending to the agricultural sector, by financial institutions in Ghana.

About Boa Mi

• Boa mi is Akan for “help me.” Akan is one of the most widely understood languages in the

country.

• Boa Mi operates through WhatsApp and supports both text and voice interactions. No

separate application download is required.

• The platform is compatible with any WhatsApp-capable mobile handset.