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mehdibella

AgroCenta : empowering smallholder farmers in Africa through technology and innovations - 0 views

  •  AgroCenta’s main competitors are Esoko (www.esoko.com), FarmerLine (www.farmerline.co) and Farm Radio (www.farmradio.org). These 3 competitors are “information-based” only, delivering market prices, weather information and extension advisory services via SMS to farmers.
    • aminej
       
      Some of the main competitors of AgroCenta's are Esoko , FarmerLine and Farm Radio. These 3 competitors are not really competitors because they do not provide the same services. These competitors are more "information-based" only, delivering market prices, weather information and extension advisory services via SMS to farmers.
  • AgroCenta came about when both co-founders identified the missing gap in the post harvest value chain, that is access to market for smallholder farmers. This gap gave way to exploitative buying from middlemen at the disadvantage to the smallholder farmer.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it shows the need that AgroCenta founders identified in Ghana, and thus reflects the company's reason for existing.
  • AgroCenta’s core services are AgroTrade : Which is a sales platform that connects smallholder farmer directly to a larger market to trade fairly. AgroTrade matches smallholder farmers in rural areas to small, medium and large buyers in the urban areas. TrucKR : TruckR is the on-demand trucks & logistics aspect of AgroCenta where farmers can book for truck delivery services to cart their commodities from farms to markets just at a click of a button AgroInfo : Real time weather, market prices and extension advisory services are delivered via SMS and voice solutions to smallholder farmers using mobile technologies AgroPay : AgroPay is the financial inclusion platform for smallholder farmers where farmers in rural areas, without bank accounts, receive payments for goods and services via mobile money technologies.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because one can identify the different products and services proposed by the firm.
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  • AgroTrade : Which is a sales platform that connects smallholder farmer directly to a larger market to trade fairly. AgroTrade matches smallholder farmers in rural areas to small, medium and large buyers in the urban areas.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      I find this concept beneficial for all farmers because they will be able to have more direct access to larger markets. This way they could earn more and interact more.
  • Francis Obirikorang is the CEO/Co-founder of AgroCenta and Michael Ocansey is the CTO/Co-founder of AgroCenta. Francis and Michael are both ex-employees of Esoko, one of the largest market information platforms in Africa for smallholder farmers.
  • AgroCenta’s success factor is the elimination of the exploitative buying approach from the post harvest value chain, and putting the smallholder farmer at a pivotal position where they are able to sell their commodities to interested buyers fairly, generate enough income and become financially independent
    • mehdibella
       
      AgroCenta provides the "last mile" approach for the smallholder farmers, going a step further to help farmers sell competitively after the get market information only from existing e-agriculture products on the market.
  • AgroCenta’s core services are
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta's services include: -AgroTrade: platform connecting farmers to markets and promoting fair trade. -TrucKR: farmers can have access to transportation through this platform. - AgroInfo: platform that gives useful insights to farmers (weather, market prices) - AgroPay: a platform for financial inclusion, giving small and underbanked farmers the possibility to receive payments via their mobile.
  • AgroPay is the financial inclusion platform for smallholder farmers where farmers in rural areas, without bank accounts, receive payments for goods and services via mobile money technologies.
    • sawsanenn
       
      It is a good service because it is a good alternative for smallholders farmers to receive secure payments even without owning a bank account
  • AgroCenta provides the “last mile” approach for the smallholder farmers, going a step further to help farmers sell competitively after the get market information only from existing e-agriculture products on the market.
    • ghtazi
       
      AgroCenta gives smallholder farmers the "last mile" solution, moving a step further to help farmers sell competitively after only collecting demand knowledge from existing e-agricultural products on the market.
    • mbellakbail69
       
      It is a good service because it is a good way for farmers, even without getting a bank account, to get safe payments  This idea is great for all producers, so they will have direct access to bigger markets more effectively. They will gain more and engage with more.
hibaerrai

Ghanaian agri-tech startup AgroCenta closes $650k seed round of funding - 0 views

  • Founded in 2015, AgroCenta is an online sales solution for smallholder farmers, with two offerings – supply chain platform AgroTrade, and financial inclusion service AgroPay.
    • hibaerrai
       
      AgroCenta has two different platforms; a supply chain one specialized in agricultural storages, seed sales, elevator services and basically the supply of primary elements. The fintech has also a financial services platform Agropay which is basically about loans and e-payments.
  • Disrupt Africa reported yesterday AgroCenta was one of six African startups awarded non-equity funding by the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator. Though the startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Francis Obirikorang declined to disclose the breakdown of equity versus grant cash, Disrupt Africa can confirm that the GSMA input is worth around US$250,000. Obirikorang said the funds will be used to scale up AgroCenta’s operations in Ghana, while the GSMA grant is more specifically geared towards the AgroPay platform, which provides any smallholder farmer who has traded using AgroTrade with a financial statement they can use to get access to finance.
    • hibaerrai
       
      AgroCenta was granted about 650000$ in order to grow its activities as its potential is clear. The agritech was granted 250K from GSMA ecosystem only as well.
mehdibella

GSMA | Meet our portfolio start-ups: AgroCenta, Ghana | Mobile for Development - 0 views

  • The start-up provides access to truck delivery services and real-time market information via SMS and IVR. Building on this platform, AgroCenta now enables farmers to receive mobile money, build their credit score and access financial services (like crop insurance) through its latest mobile product, AgroPay.
  • In a country where agriculture is the primary economic occupation of many — employing 52 per cent of Ghana’s labour force — the AgriTech start-up launched AgroTrade, an online platform that connects smallholder farmers in the staple food value chain to a wider online market.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it reflects the importance of agriculture in Ghana, and which products/services offered by AgroCenta serve to do: AgroTrade connects smallholder farmers to a wider online market & AgroPay allows farmers to receive money, build their credit score and access financial services i.e. crop insurance through their mobile phones.
  • In Ghana, AgroCenta has set up a mobile money API integration partnership with MTN and Vodafone to pay smallholder farmers directly and seamlessly via mobile money through its AgroPay platform.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This part reflects the collaborations engaged by AgroCenta with mobile operators MTN and Vodafone to support financial literacy and facilitate the transfer of mobile money.
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  • Both mobile operators will also be supporting AgroCenta farmers with financial literacy training on-the-ground. AgroCenta has also strengthened its partnership with Vodafone Ghana to allow smallholder farmers on its platform to access free voice calls between farmers and discounted mobile devices and bundles
  • Both mobile operators will also be supporting AgroCenta farmers with financial literacy training on-the-ground. AgroCenta has also strengthened its partnership with Vodafone Ghana to allow smallholder farmers on its platform to access free voice calls between farmers and discounted mobile devices and bundles
  • Through this partnership, Vodafone Ghana can liaise with the AgroCenta team to onboard AgroCenta farmers on its Small Office/Home Office (SoHo) packages.
    • mehdibella
       
      As of July 2019, AgroCenta had registered 46,100 smallholder farmers on the AgroTrade platform across four regions and 640 communities.
  • As of July 2019, AgroCenta had registered 46,100 smallholder farmers on the AgroTrade platform across four regions and 640 communities.
  • lack of access to structured markets, which leaves them at the mercy of predatory brokers or middlemen who buy at exploitative prices, and lack of access to finance, which means they may never move beyond smallholder farming to middle-level or even commercial farming.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      The inability of smallholder farmers to access markets pushes them to sell to middlemen with exploitative prices and the incapacity to get loans also prevents these farmers to grow.
  •  
    "lack of access to structured markets, which leaves them at the mercy of predatory brokers or middlemen who buy at exploitative prices, and lack of access to finance, which means they may never move beyond smallholder farming to middle-level or even commercial farming."
nouhaila_zaki

AgroCenta - 0 views

  • AgroCenta's innovation focuses on the post harvest value chain. The suite of services within AgroCenta provides an end-to-end solution that ensures that it provides a win-win situation for the smallholder farmer and all active players in the value chain. If a smallholder farmer wants to know the latest market price of maize in the nearest market to enable him price competitively, he uses AgroInfo to request for information via SMS and Voice solutions. After the farmers has made a decision on how much to sell, the farmer's commodity information are uploaded onto the AgroTrade platform to connect him to buyers. When a trade agreement is reached between the farmer and a buyer, the farmer requests for TruckR, which is the truck delivery service component of AgroCenta, in real time using mobile phone. After the commodities are sold to the buyer, the farmer is paid via the AgroPay solution, which is the financial inclusion platform within AgroCenta
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      The important message to take from AgroCenta is that it gives win-win situations for all players. Smallholder farmers as well as those active in the value chain are taking advantage of this concept.
  • AgroCenta targets about 10 million smallholder farmers in Sub Saharan Africa within the next 5 years to help them trade fairly. Over 90% of these smallholder farmers live under $1 and are not able to make enough money from sales proceed to take care of their families and re-invest a percentage of the money raised back into their farms.
    • mehdibella
       
      AgroCenta's value proposition lies in the advantage of providing the last mile market access for smallholder farmers in the staple food value chain through extensive collaboration with many partners who play an active role in the value chain.
  • AgroCenta's value proposition lies in the advantage of providing the last mile market access for smallholder farmers in the staple food value chain through extensive collaboration with many partners who play an active role in the value chain.
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  • AgroCenta provides an end-to-end solution for smallholder farmers in the post-harvest value chain from farm to market, leveraging on technology to create impact. AgroCenta's services include a market linkage platform (AgroTrade) linking farmers directly to buyers and removing exploitative buying, TruckR which is an on-demand trucks and logistics services (uber for trucks), AgroPay which is a financial inclusion plaform for the rural unbanked smallholder farmer.
  • AgroCenta has launched and piloted its Smallholder Farmer Integration Platform (AgroTrade) and has currently signed up over 7500 smallholder farmers in the staple food (rice, maize, soybean, sorghum and millet) value chain and connected them to a larger market (offtakers) to trade fairly. Also AgroCenta has recruited the services of 30 agents who work in close collaboration with smallholder farmer and farmer based organizations in 30 communities. Agents are responsible for signing up smallholder farmers onto the AgroCenta platform, uploading trade deals on behalf of farmers and collecting market price information from major markets across the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions in Ghana.
    • tahaemsd
       
      Agrocenta provides an end to end solution for smallholder farmers in the post-harvest value chain from farm to market
  • Competitive AdvantageAgroCenta's value proposition lies in the advantage of providing the last mile market access for smallholder farmers in the staple food value chain through extensive collaboration with many partners who play an active role in the value chain. Secondly the provision of an on-demand access to trucks (uber for trucks) enables commodities to be moved from farms to markets etc in real time, reducing food glut and ensuring food security.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it highlights the competitive advantage that Agrocenta enjoys. This advantage relies upon two components: 1- The company's partners who are crucial actors in the value chain, 2- The provision of on-demand trucks that allow for the smooth and swift movement of goods.
  • AgroCenta is currently operating in 3 out of 10 regions in Ghana. Our expansion plans are to rollout the platform in the remaining 7 regions of Ghana by end of 2018 and sign up a total of 70,000 smallholder farmers to connect them directly to a market to trade and eliminate exploitative buying. Also AgroCenta plans to scale into immediate countries in West Africa (Ivory Coast & Nigeria) by end of 2020. The long-term goal of AgroCenta is to create the first of its kind commodity exchange and aggregations platform in sub Saharan Africa.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta wants to expand in the rest of Ghana's region before scaling into immediate countries in West Africa and finally moving to a Pan-African approach.
hibaerrai

Ghana's Farmers Use Mobile Apps to Skip the Middleman - 0 views

  • “The lack of an access to a structured market results in smallholder farmers being forced to sell to middlemen who buy at ridiculously exploitative prices,” writes the team at AgroCenta, a mobile marketplace for Ghanaian farmers, on its website. Ghanaian farmers don’t have access to buyers in faraway cities, or access to truckers who can transport their goods to a central market. The middlemen provide a service, but it hardly benefits the farmers at all. The middlemen have all the power, and with a largely illiterate population of farmers, all the leverage. AgroCenta, founded by two former employees of Esoko, a financial assistance app, is a sort of Swiss Army knife of tools to help address those issues. It’s not cutting out the middlemen, not yet, but it places some more power in the hands of farmers, with the goal of increasing that power. Within that knife are four platforms: AgroTrade, AgroPay, Truckr, and AgroInfo.
    • hibaerrai
       
      This agritech help farmers have more power in the market and have more access to other buyers in other cities, and that through the platform.
mehdibella

AgroCenta - Greentec - 0 views

  • AgroCenta brings all the stakeholders in Ghana’s agricultural value chain together to facilitate effective trading within its web and mobile platform. They target rural smallholder farmers and farmer-based organizations that have limited access to markets, logistics, or technology. AgroCenta works to improve the livelihoods of farmers by providing an all-in-one SMS based solution to access commodity pricing, offer goods for sale across Ghana, and an on-demand logistics service to ensure timely deliveries.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      I really admire the concept of AgroCenta because it is able to give smallholder farmers an opportunity to expand their business, which would then aid in providing for their families.
  • Agrocenta tackles some of the main market inefficiencies and challenges to growth for smallholder farmers within the agriculture value chain in Ghana and West Africa. Agrocenta works to improve the limited access to market information, to reduce the exploitative behaviour of local buyers and middlemen and to improve the transportation and logistics linkages between small rural sellers of agri production and the larger urban markets.
  • Business Model
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  • Agrocenta draws its revenue streams from the price difference between purchase prices (from smallholders) and prices sold to large off-takers. Agrocenta mobilizes a local network of agents and scouts, who work directly with the local farmer communities and engage in the pre/post-harvest process.
    • mehdibella
       
      Agrocenta's passion to change the face of agriculture in Africa is built on 3 core values, closely aligned with 3 SDGs. Agrocenta aims to create livelihood empowerement for smallholder farmers, help increase farmers' incomes and thus help reducing poverty.
  • Agrocenta’s passion to change the face of agriculture in Africa is built on 3 core values, closely aligned with 3 SDGs.
  • Agrocenta aims to create livelihood empowerement for smallholder farmers, help increase farmers’ incomes and thus help reducing poverty. Agrocenta aims to help ensure sustainable food security by working to reduce inefficiencies in the agricultural value chain. Agrocenta also aims to contribute towards gender equality by working with many female farmers.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta is actively working on empowering small farmers, reducing poverty, ensuring sustainable food security, and contributing to gender equality.
  • Agrocenta draws its revenue streams from the price difference between purchase prices (from smallholders) and prices sold to large off-takers. Agrocenta mobilizes a local network of agents and scouts, who work directly with the local farmer communities and engage in the pre/post-harvest process.
    • sawsanenn
       
      this excerpt is important because it shows how agrocenta encourages smallholders farmers to develop their businesses and face challenges by offering them many financial solutions.
  • Products and Services A comprehensive agricultural services platform including: AgroInfo: provides realtime agricultural information and market prices to smallholder farmers AgroTrade: online trading platform offering ability to buy and sell agricultural commodities TruckR: on demand logistics solutions to deliver agriculture goods from rural aggregation points to urban markets and buyers AgroPay: financial platform allowing farmers to transact digitally
    • ghtazi
       
      these are the Products and services of agrocenta: agroinfo, agrotrade, truckr, and agropay.
mehdibella

AgroCenta-Empowering-smallholder-farmers-through-finance-information-and-market-access.pdf - 0 views

shared by mehdibella on 08 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • In 2016, AgroCenta set out to address these challenges. In a country where agriculture is the primary economic occupation of many — employing 52 per cent of Ghana’s labour force — the AgriT ech start-up launched AgroTrade, an online platform that connects smallholder farmers in the staple food value chain to a wider online market.
    • mehdibella
       
      agrocenta made it possible for many farmers to get the possibility to engage the community with technology and actually gain more and save to make better products
  • AgroCenta had registered 46,100 smallholder farmers on the AgroTrade platform across four regions and 640 communities. Since launching AgroPay in January 2019, 2,750 smallholder farmers in two regions of Ghana are now active on the platform.
  • AgroCenta has hosted and provided over 500 farmer engagement sessions and trainings since launch. Skilled professionals deliver these sessions in farming communities and methodologies are continuously updated to reflect state-of-theart farming practices.
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  • AgroCenta received a grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund in November 2018 to further develop and scale its financial solution, AgroPay.
  • AgroCenta eliminates inefficiencies in the value chain and ensures farmers are remunerated fairly.
  •  
    AgroCenta has been fighting over two main causes: Lack of access to structured markets, which leaves the poor and illeterate at the mercy of predatory brokers or middlemen who buy at exploitative prices, and lack of access to finance, which means they may never move beyond smallholder farming to middle-level or even commercial farming
tahaemsd

AgroCenta - Disrupt 100 - 0 views

  • AgroCenta has four key strands to the business. First is its AgroTrade platform which enables smallholder farmers in remote farming communities to sell directly to buyers in the urban areas. Second, its TruckR on-demand shipping logistic service provides transport for goods at the click of a button. Third, AgroInfo gives smallholder farmers information on commodity pricing via SMS and Voice solutions, helping farmers make informed decisions on how to price competitively. Lastly, AgroPay is a financial-inclusion product for smallholder farmers, allowing them to easily access credit facilities, layaway some funds and transact using the power of mobile phones.
    • tahaemsd
       
      using its innovative technology which connects smallholder farmers to a larger market to trade and sell directly to buyers in the urban area
hibaerrai

AgroCenta | F6S - 0 views

  • AgroCenta brings the shareholders in Ghana’s agricultural value chain under one umbrella. Focusing on the producers, rural smallholder farmers, the company has developed a web and mobile platform that provides rural farmers with a suite of services to empower them to sell their crops at fair-market prices. AgroCenta’s platform, which is includes SMS functionality, provides the following services: 1) AgroInfo: real-time commodity pricing information; 2) TruckR: an on-demand logistics solution; 3) AgroTrade: a market platform to offer crops for sale; and 4) AgroPay: a mobile-money based payments service. The company markets its platform leveraging an intimate knowledge of the African cultural context and recruiting and technologically empowering village chiefs to act as advocates or agents for the platform.
    • hibaerrai
       
      What I find very thoughtful and interesting is that farmers can apply and ask for loans or different financial services not necessarily through smartphones. They can send an SMS and get the service.
mbellakbail69

WSA IMPACT STORIES AGROCENTA | WSA - 0 views

  • Since 2017, AgroCenta has successfully completed two rounds of funding to the tune of $750,000 to expand operations in Ghana. In 2017, AgroCenta won the Seedstars Global Competition against other 72 startups from emerging markets across the globe. AgroCenta has grown its farmer base to 45,000 providing additional services of access to finance for smallholder farmers, bringing smallholder farmers onto the financial sector to enjoy services such as crop insurance, micro lending/input financing, mobile payments through mobile money and finally pensions schemes targeted at farmers and beneficiaries in the informal sector with special attention to women and youth. Since 2017, AgroCenta has helped over 28,000 farmers sell over 20,000MT of commodities to large, medium and small scale buyers across the country.   In December 2018, AgroCenta won a grant of $250,000 from GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Fund to further build its financial inclusion platform AgroPay targeted at rural smallholder farmers.
    • mbellakbail69
       
      This start-up in agriculture has an impact and works towards zero starvation. Farmers make more profits by directly selling the goods to the off-taking companies and the company agrees to bring the products in a record time from point A to B, by passing intermediaries and paying wide price ranges.
ghtazi

AgroCenta - VC4A - 1 views

  • AgroCenta is an innovative online platform that empowers small holder farmers and farmer based organizations in rural farming communities access a wider online market outside their immediate locality to trade fairly and equitably. They can access technological tools and information that will inform them on best farming practices such weather information, market information and finally access to agro inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides directly from stakeholders.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      The engagement of farmers with AfroCenta is not only important to have wider access to larger markets, but also to have access to advanced tools and data in the agricultural industry.
  • AgroCenta is an innovative online platform that empowers small holder farmers and farmer based organizations in rural farming communities access a wider online market outside their immediate locality to trade fairly and equitably. They can access technological tools and information that will inform them on best farming practices such weather information, market information and finally access to agro inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides directly from stakeholders.
    • sawsanenn
       
      AgroCenta's mobile app provides two key services to smallholder farmers: access to markets (AgroTrade) and access to finance (AgroPay). On the AgroTrade platform, farmers can trade directly with small, medium, and large processing companies that need raw commodities for processing.
  • AgroCenta is an innovative online platform that empowers small holder farmers and farmer based organizations in rural farming communities access a wider online market outside their immediate locality to trade fairly and equitably. They can access technological tools and information that will inform them on best farming practices such weather information, market information and finally access to agro inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides directly from stakeholders.
    • ghtazi
       
      Agrocenta is an innovative platform that helps small farmers in rural communities access a wider online market in order to trade freely and equitably.
hibaerrai

Online platform improves the livelihood of small farmers in Ghana - 0 views

  • We have seen improvements in farmers’ livelihoods because we give them a fair price for the commodities they produce and help them with better farming practices so they increase their yields. Seeing farmers being able to pay school fees for their families has given us joy about what we do. Agriculture is the space we should be in. Before AgroCenta farmers were selling to middle men at sometimes ridiculously low prices for maize, for instance. At the time a middle man would buy a 50 kg bag of maize for US$9 (40 cedis) and we would buy it for US$11 (49 cedis). We deal mostly in maize, sorghum and soya beans and have a five year contract with a big organisation that has a constant demand for these commodities. In 2016 we sponsored 400 farmers, the majority of whom were women. We provided them with seed, fertilisers and tractor services. These farmers had an assured market. Everything they produced got purchased by us at prevailing market prices, enabling them sell quickly and earning higher.
    • hibaerrai
       
      Not only does AgroCenta financially support farmers (Agropay) but it also provided all nnecessary material to make their lives easier ( seeds, soil...).
hibaerrai

AgroCenta: Empowering and supporting smallholder farmers through technology and innovat... - 0 views

  • AgroCenta provides an end-to-end solution for smallholder farmers in the post-harvest value chain from farm to market, leveraging on technology to create impact. AgroCenta's services include a market linkage platform (AgroTrade) linking farmers directly to buyers and removing exploitative buying, TruckR which is an on-demand trucks and logistics services (uber for trucks), AgroPay which is a financial inclusion plaform for the rural unbanked smallholder farmer.
    • hibaerrai
       
      Agrotrade is a smart initiative and a great platform because farmers won't need to travel or have any contact with the buyer or seller, and in the time of Covid-19, it is beneficial.
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