Penn State students tackle farming challenges in Kenya with ShambaShare

UNIVERSITY PARK – When Sam Marshall entered Penn State’s Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) program, he was presented with a problem to solve: smallholder farmers in Kenya lack access to essential farming equipment. 

Through the HESE program, which presents teams of students with a technology-based problem faced by communities in low- and middle-income countries, Marshall’s team of five students conducted extensive research into agricultural equipment rental markets in the U.S. and Kenya. 

The team found Kenya’s rental ecosystem underdeveloped, which ultimately led to the launch of ShambaShare, a peer-to-peer rental platform Marshall calls the “Airbnb for agriculture.” 

“We worked all fall and all spring, meeting with stakeholders in Kenya over Zoom to learn more about their specific situations,” said Marshall, a third-year finance student in the Smeal College of Business. 

At the end of the spring semester, the team traveled to Kenya for three weeks to immerse themselves in the local agricultural environment. Visiting 50 farms and meeting over 150 farmers, they sought to understand the role of trust in sharing equipment. 

“We wanted to understand what trust looked like between individuals and communities,” Marshall said. “It’s, ‘I’m going to give you my equipment for x period of time. Can I trust you to give it back?’” 

While the concept of ShambaShare was met with some acceptance, the team encountered an unexpected obstacle: there wasn’t much agricultural equipment available to rent in the first place. This realization prompted a pivot in their strategy. 

“The strongest opportunity we are exploring right now is collaborating with pre-existing community-based organizations,” Marshall explained. “These are groups of independent farmers who support one another. Individually, new equipment is too expensive, so we’re working on ways to facilitate shared purchases and usage.” 

To test this revised approach, the team decided to launch an experiment in Kenya. They needed funding to make it happen, so they entered the Invent Penn State Inc.U Competition in spring 2024. This annual competition allows Penn State student startups from any campus to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges for cash prizes. 

Applications for the 2025 Inc.U Competition are open from January 8 – January 19, 2025. 

ShambaShare’s pitch earned them the $2,500 People’s Choice Award, chosen by audience votes, which they were able to put towards compensating the farmers involved in the experiment for their time. 

“The farmers are living on less than $2 a day, and so if we were going to come in and spend time with them, we wanted to be able to compensate them for their time,” Marshall said. “Their insights will help us build our business model in hopes of eventually being able to help them.” 

The funding enabled the team to broaden their experiment, connect with more farmers, and gather invaluable insights. Although ShambaShare has made significant strides, the team continues to refine and test their platform to better serve communities in Kenya. 

Marshall encourages other Penn State students with startup ideas to apply for the upcoming 2025 Inc.U Competition. 

“Winning the People’s Choice Award allowed us to accomplish so much more than we imagined,” he said. “Being able to try starting a company in college with minimal risk and see if your idea works is so worthwhile. And there’s no place better to do it than with Inc.U, with the resources, the judges, and the chance to win.” 

About the Inc.U Competition   

Inc.U is a signature program of Invent Penn State and an annual showcase of student innovation across the commonwealth. Every spring, the Inc.U Competition awards up to $30,000 in funding to the top six student startup teams at the culminating pitch event that takes place during Penn State Startup Week powered by PNC. This funding, coupled with ongoing pitch training and startup support services, enables student entrepreneurs to take the next step in turning their daydream into a reality.   

This project was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community & Economic Development.