GrowEasy

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  GrowEasy

Inspiration I was inspired by the financial struggles of rural South African farmers, where 70% lack credit access (2023 Stats SA). Seeing their reliance on limited connectivity drove me to create an offline solution.

What it does GrowEasy is an offline credit scoring tool that assesses creditworthiness for rural farmers earning as low as R1000/month, using rule-based logic. It includes a Savings Growth Simulator to predict score improvements.

How we built it Built with Python for core logic and SQLite for local storage, optimized for <50MB memory and <5W power. The Savings Growth Simulator was added using a custom function, tested on a low-spec laptop.

Challenges we ran into Struggled with negative savings data in the database, fixed by SQLite cleanup, and faced control flow issues with the new simulator option, resolved with proper if-elif-else structure.

Accomplishments that we're proud of Successfully tested scores (60/100, 45/100) and the simulator (61/100 with R200/month savings), keeping memory at 15.9MB, exceeding the 48-hour target.

What we learned Learned to optimize for offline use, handle edge cases like negative inputs, and integrate new features under tight constraints.

What's next for GrowEasy Expand to mobile apps, add multi-user support, and partner with microfinance institutions to reach 1 million farmers by 2026.

Built With

• python
• replit
• sqlite