Hello Tractor, the pioneering Kenyan agritech company often dubbed the “Uber for tractors,” has named Tobe Ofili as its new Chief Financial Officer as it steps up efforts to close the continent’s vast mechanisation gap.
The appointment comes as the 10-year-old company seeks long-term, patient capital to meet surging demand for climate-resilient and financially de-risked tractor services for smallholder farmers.
Ofili, a UK-educated finance and engineering expert who studied at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge, brings extensive experience from global consultancies PwC and Bain & Company.
“I’m thrilled to announce that I am joining Hello Tractor as the Chief Financial Officer! It is a profound honour to step into the executive office of a company that is not just scaling an operation, but actively driving a transformative imperative across Sub-Saharan Africa.” Ofili announced on his official LinkedIn handle
He previously served as CFO at Nigerian health-tech startup Medsaf and climate-finance platform Carbon. An active angel investor, Ofili has backed several high-profile African ventures, including Lemfi, Chowdeck, Bamboo, and Jendaya.
Speaking on his new role, Ofili said he looks forward to working closely with Hello Tractor’s team and existing and future investors to unlock the financing needed to scale sustainable mechanisation across Africa.
Ofili continued, “For those new to our mission, Hello Tractor is tackling one of the continent’s most critical economic challenges: the agricultural mechanisation deficit.
We are not just financing equipment; we are enabling a Machinery-as-a-Service economy by turning advanced, high-value assets into accessible, revenue-generating businesses for local entrepreneurs.”
Founded in 2014 by Jehiel Oliver, Hello Tractor operates an on-demand platform that connects smallholder farmers with tractor owners and operators. The company now works in 15 African countries, has digitised more than 3.5 million acres of farmland, and has facilitated the production of five million metric tonnes of food.
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He stated: “My focus is on scaling this unique Agri-FinTech model for exponential, sustainable growth. Our proprietary digital tractor-hiring platform, combined with our innovative Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) tractor financing solution, fundamentally de-risks asset lending and unlocks financial inclusion for the previously unbanked. This blend of technology and purpose has already earned the trust of strategic global partners and investors like John Deere and pioneering catalytic investors such as Heifer International.”
In Kenya, where Hello Tractor partners closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, the platform supports over 700 tracked tractors and 1,100 booking agents serving more than 360,000 smallholder farmers and opening 690,000 acres to cultivation. Continent-wide, the network reaches approximately one million smallholders.
“The opportunity ahead is immense. We are currently empowering millions of smallholder farmers across 18 countries, but this is just the start. The challenge now is securing the long-term, patient capital required to meet the vast, unmet demand for operationally de-risked climate-smart mechanisation across Africa.
I look forward to partnering with our current investors, the exceptional Hello Tractor team, and future capital providers to ensure our financial structure can meet the scale of our ambition. Let’s build the future of resilient and profitable African agriculture.” Ofili ended
The appointment underscores the urgent need to boost agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa, home to an estimated 33 million smallholder farmers who produce 80% of the region’s food. Despite possessing a quarter of the world’s arable land, Africa accounts for only 10% of global agricultural output, forcing many countries to spend up to $35 billion annually on food imports.
