LUTHER LAWOYIN H’25
Digitizing Grocery Distribution in Urban Africa
As a child in Lagos, Luther Lawoyin helped his mother bake and sell homemade snacks, unknowingly gaining a front-row education in entrepreneurship. That early exposure to supply chains, packaging, and sales planted the seed for a business mindset that never left him. After dropping out of his geology degree to study business administration, Luther launched and sold two successful ventures before turning his focus to a challenge much closer to home: the rising cost of food. Shocked by how much of his household budget went to groceries, he co-founded Pricepally, a digital food cooperative that connects consumers directly to farmers and wholesalers to buy food in bulk, cutting out costly middlemen and reducing waste. With services now spanning multiple Nigerian states and leveraging data, tech, and partnerships, Pricepally has served thousands of households while improving profit margins for producers. For Lawoyin, the mission is clear: nobody should go to bed hungry because they can’t afford food.
“Pricepally is charting a new course for sustainable, inclusive nourishment across the continent."
Redesigning how food moves from farms to homes and businesses in African cities
THE CHALLENGE: In cities across Nigeria and much of Africa, food is both abundant and inaccessible – a cruel paradox in a continent brimming with agricultural potential. In 2019 alone, Nigerian households spent over ₦40 trillion on consumption, more than half of it on food. Yet, for millions, bulk-buying fresh, affordable, and safe farm food remains a luxury. The supply chain is dominated by middlemen who inflate prices, lower quality, and erode trust. Access is patchy, logistics are broken, and consumers are left with overpriced and often substandard produce. The inefficiencies cut both ways: urban families struggle to feed themselves affordably, while local farmers are boxed out of lucrative markets, robbed of fair compensation for their labor. For Lawoyin, this wasn’t just a problem, it was a call to action. Frustrated by his own soaring household food bills and guided by a lifelong instinct for business cultivated through helping his mother sell baked goods as a boy, he saw a broken system begging for reinvention. The mission was clear: democratize food access, slash waste, and empower every player in the value chain.
THE PROCESS: Lawoyin’s mission took shape as Pricepally, a digital food cooperative designed to upend the traditional food retail model in African cities. The platform aggregates consumer demand and connects it directly with farmers, wholesalers, and trusted suppliers, stripping out the exploitative middlemen who’ve long distorted pricing and quality. Using a potent mix of data analytics, technology, and strategic partnerships, Pricepally builds a demand-driven ecosystem that benefits both the consumer and the producer. Lawoyin and his team collect pricing data in real time, forecast demand, and plan supply, ensuring smarter, leaner, and more cost-effective operations. Their logistics model spans states – from Jos and Benue to Kano and Ekiti – delivering farm-fresh produce in bulk or portioned formats, to consumers’ doors. The company also encourages group-buying, allowing families and friends to save even more by purchasing together. For Lawoyin, solving the food crisis isn’t just about better software or delivery, it’s about trust, transparency, and creating a food system that reflects the true rhythm of African life.
THE RESULTS: In just two years, Pricepally has delivered fresh food to over a thousand households, reducing costs and time spent shopping while improving access to safe, high-quality produce. What began as a bootstrap operation has evolved into a scalable tech platform that offers deep discounts, consumer protection, and a radically simplified supply chain. Their pilot programs have slashed inefficiencies and given smallholder farmers direct access to urban markets. Behind the scenes, the company’s success rests on three pillars: technology to streamline the process, data to predict trends and stabilize pricing, and partnerships to ensure consistent, reliable supply. Under Lawoyin’s leadership, Pricepally is fast becoming a movement – one where no one should go hungry simply because the system failed them. With ambitions to scale beyond Lagos and replicate their model in other African cities, the team is now seeking investor support to deepen their impact, refine their tech stack, and expand their logistics capacity. For Lawoyin, the ultimate goal is simple but audacious: to build a food ecosystem where access isn’t a privilege, but a right.
LEARN MORE ABOUT PRICEPALLY
Pricepally is an innovative e-commerce platform that revolutionizes the way consumers purchase food, offering both bulk and portioned options directly from farmers and wholesalers.
Digitizing Grocery Distribution in Urban Africa
ABOUT LUTHER LAWOYIN
Luther Lawoyin holds a Diploma in Business Management from Lagos Business School and a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Lagos. He completed the Venture Scaling Bootcamp at MIT and was a Mass Challenge Switzerland Fellow. His startup, Pricepally, won the 2020 Africa Cup at the South African Innovation Summit, earned a cash prize at the 2021 World Food Program Hunger Sprint, and placed second in the new venture category at the 2021 Wharton Africa Student Association competition.
I AM A HARAMBEAN
Lawoyin believes in making a tangible impact in Africa through his venture and is driven to connect with like-minded individuals who are also committed to solving Africa’s unique challenges in their own innovative ways. He seeks the opportunity to be constantly challenged, to enhance not only his own abilities, but those of others.
“Together, we can amplify the Harambean efforts and propel Africa to its rightful position among the world’s great continents.”