Nigerian Insurtech Riwe Secures UNDP Funding to Bring Climate Insurance to Farmers
Riwe, a climate insurance and financial technology company based in Abuja, has secured funding and a partnership from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) to expand affordable insurance and financial services for Nigerian smallholder farmers.
Riwe, a climate insurance and financial technology company based in Abuja, has secured funding and a partnership from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) to expand affordable insurance and financial services for Nigerian smallholder farmers.
The funding supports the rollout of RAIN (Resilience through Affordable and Inclusive Weather Insurance), a programme designed to connect farmers directly with climate protection, real-time weather information, and access to agricultural finance.
Since launching in 2022, Riwe has served over 15,000 farmers across Nigeria. The company was also selected to participate in the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) Innovation Lab, placing it among a small group of companies identified by Nigeria’s insurance industry as shaping the next generation of insurance products in the country.
A key part of Riwe’s approach is a digital identity layer built for farmers with no formal financial history. By capturing farm-level data, climate exposure, and insurance behaviour over time, the company creates a profile for each farmer that powers loan applications and product eligibility decisions, giving farmers a credible, data-backed entry point into the formal financial system.
At the core of Riwe’s model is its role as an intelligence layer for agricultural risk. Farmers generate rich operational data, but the systems needed to transform it into actionable intelligence have historically been absent. Riwe fills that gap, pulling together fragmented field data across satellite imagery, field reports, and community experience centres, and converting it into structured risk profiles, predictive yield and exposure models, and dynamic pricing tools. This creates a feedback loop where every farmer interaction, weather event, and payout outcome sharpens the model, producing de-risked assets that banks, insurers, and governments can act on with confidence. Through embedded underwriting APIs, Riwe gives institutional partners direct access to this intelligence, making it possible to serve smallholder farmers at scale for the first time.
Riwe’s platform uses satellite earth observation data and automated smart contract infrastructure to design parametric insurance products that pay out automatically when a defined climate trigger is met. Distribution runs through a USSD platform accessible on basic mobile phones and a network of trained community agents working inside farming communities.
Under the RAIN programme, Riwe will deploy across farming communities in Nigeria, establishing community experience centres and working alongside insurance and banking partners, including Leadway Assurance and Novus Microfinance Bank, to deliver insurance enrolment, agricultural input loans, and weather advisories directly to enrolled farmers.
Commenting on the announcement, Chigozirim Israel, CEO of Riwe, said: “This is a direct reflection of years of consistent, focused work. Funding from global development institutions tells us the global development community sees what we see. And more than anything, it moves the needle closer to the future we are building towards, one where every farmer has the financial protection and tools, they need to weather whatever comes their way.” Connect with Chigozirim on LinkedIn.
The RAIN programme marks a significant step in Riwe’s goal of reaching 200,000 farmers across Nigeria before 2030.
Riwe is a climate insurance and Agri-fintech company headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria. Founded in 2022, Riwe has served over 15,000 farmers across Nigeria, building parametric insurance products, early warning systems, digital farmer identity profiles, and agricultural finance tools for smallholder farming communities. The company’s platform connects farmers with the data, insurance, and financing they need, while giving banks, insurers, and governments the visibility required to serve this market at scale.
