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ghtazi

AgroCenta - Funding, Financials, Valuation & Investors - 0 views

  • AgroCenta has raised a total of $2.2M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 29, 2021 from a Seed round.AgroCenta is funded by 6 investors. Foreign & Commonwealth Office - UK and AV Ventures are the most recent investors.
    • tahaemsd
       
      Funding of AGROCENTA
  • AgroCenta has raised a total of $2.2M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 29, 2021 from a Seed round.
    • sawsanenn
       
      This excerpt shows the effective work of agrocenta, and how their revenues expended over four rounds
  • AgroCenta has raised a total of $2.2M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 29, 2021 from a Seed round.AgroCenta is funded by 6 investors. Foreign & Commonwealth Office - UK and AV Ventures are the most recent investors.
    • ghtazi
       
      AgroCenta raised a total of 2.2 millions USD in funding over 4 rounds. the latest one was raised in january 29th, 2021 from a seed round. we can see that the company has founded 6 investors. the most recent ones are Foreign & Commonwealth Office- Uk and AV Ventures.
ghtazi

AV Ventures Invests in AgroCenta, Supporting Digital and Financial Inclusion of Ghanaia... - 0 views

  • AV Ventures, ACDI/VOCA’s impact investing subsidiary, recently completed its investment in AgroCenta, a technology-driven agricultural platform provider in Ghana. The funding made by AV Ventures is part of a US$790,000 pre-Series A investment round with other participating international institutions, including Shell Foundation, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Rabo Foundation, with support from AgroCenta’s strategic advisor, Qbera Capital.
    • tahaemsd
       
      With the newly secured funding, agrocenta will widen the reach of its smallholder farmer financial inclusion programs
  • The digital services AgroCenta provides along the selected cereals value chain also improve the repayment of loans by smallholder farmers. The services provide farmers with an end market through the offtaking of produce and through facilitating the provision of high-quality agricultural inputs, which maximize their yields and productivity. To date, the average farmer on CropChain has increased their income by 35 percent and their crop yields by 40 percent, while reducing their food waste by 25 percent. AgroCenta has also made strides to promote gender and social inclusion; nearly half of its CropChain users and more than half of its microloan borrowers on LendIt are female smallholder farmers. 
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it introduces the results of using AgroCenta on smallholder farmers, ranging between the maximization of productivity, of income, reduction of food waste,to gender and social inclusion.
  • Founded in 2016, AgroCenta operates two integrated digital platforms in Ghana, CropChain and LendIt, to help address challenges related to smallholder farmers’ access to markets and financial services.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Since 2016, AgroCenta operates 2 digital platforms: - CropChain: integrated agricultural supply chain management platform. - LendIt: allowing access to financial services like mobile payments, microloans, crop insurance.
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  • Poor infrastructure and logistics prevent many smallholder farmers in Ghana from accessing large, urban markets where they could obtain better prices for their crops. Many of these farmers lack information on fair market prices, which leaves them susceptible to selling at low prices to middlemen. Without a strong credit history, many of them also have limited access to finance for purchasing high-quality agricultural inputs that would enable them to scale beyond subsistent production.  
    • sawsanenn
       
      this excerpt shows reasons why smallholder farmers should consider agrocenta to increase their profitability and their revenues
  • For AV Ventures, the investment is part of its long-term strategy of providing innovative and catalytic capital to support growth-oriented small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) like AgroCenta that make up the “missing middle” of investment — too large for microfinance but too small or too early-stage to attract private equity investors. These SMEs are often the backbone of economies and potential drivers of innovation, but too often they miss out on financing that could enable their growth and longevity.  
    • hibaerrai
       
      Agrocenta attracts more investors as it is considered among small and medium businesses that promote innovation. In fact, the fintech is specialized in agricultural loans, something not that common in the country.
  • CropChain is an integrated agricultural supply chain management platform that provides smallholder farmers with access to markets. Farmers use the platform to advertise their produce, while large offtakers or buyers of selected cereals use it to make purchases or enter long-term offtaker purchase contracts with AgroCenta. AgroCenta leverages the platform to source cereals directly from smallholder farmers to supply to large offtakers who have contracts with the company. This allows AgroCenta to earn margins between the price it pays farmers and the contractually agreed upon price with offtakers.
    • mbellakbail69
       
      Agrocenta draws even more investment amongst SMEs that promote innovation. This extract shows some of the reasons why smallholders should consider Agrocentra for increasing the profitability and income .
  • “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission. The demand for agricultural raw materials from offtakers in the brewery, manufacturing, and consumer sector is increasing exponentially because of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place by the government of Ghana. Hence, this capital injection will help to secure purchases at fair and transparent prices from smallholders — a much needed lifeline for many who are at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid.”
    • ghtazi
       
      in this excerpt, we can see how agrocenta takes the pandemic situation and what are the solutions that the company adopts to face it.
kenza_abdelhaq

AgroCenta CEO on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Ghana - 0 views

  • Does being an entrepreneur in Ghana – and in a developing economy in Africa – presents any ulterior challenges you had overcome?Being an entrepreneur in Africa and in emerging markets, in general, is quite difficult because of the lack of structure and supports put in place by the government. It requires a lot of courage and persistence to get the simplest things done. Any simple tech solution that you might want to build can end up being a very complex challenge because it relies on services that do not exist or don’t work properly. Access to funding also remains a big problem for many entrepreneurs who will need money to test, pilot and scale a platform or a solution. Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it reflects the challenges faced by AgroCenta in Ghana, i.e. corruption, lack of financing, lack of proper infrastructure, lack of government help, among other things.
  • Our business model is simple, we are a B2B business that generates commission fees on trade volumes from the businesses we work with.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is extremely important because it clearly states the business model of the company.
  • we are definitely improving the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade. Many smallholder farmers are paid less than $1 a day and our objective is to increase it to $4 a day by 2020.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      AgroCenta is an extremely important concept because it is helping to increase farmers' salaries. Going from $1 a day to $4 a day is already an improvement.
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  • AgroCenta focuses on 3 key impact goals for Ghana:No Poverty: Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.
    • mehdibella
       
      as you can see this company cares a lot about the livelyhood of their farmers and is trying to provide them only with the best features that would make life easier which in fact the main things that they tackle in the SDGs.
  • Seedstars Summit has been phenomenal. It has put AgroCenta on a pedestal and in the spotlight of a huge community in Africa. The experience after the Summit has been amazing: we received a lot of proposals from potential investors, partners and other service providers keen on working with us for growth and expansion.
  • Winning the vote of the entire jury, AgroCenta from Ghana was crowned the Seedstars Global Winner of the 5th edition of Seedstars Summit. At Seedstars, we are convinced that AgroCenta will shape the future of AgriTech in Africa. Indeed, the start-up’s mission is to improve the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade.
    • aminej
       
      Agrocenta will have a great impact on farmers in Africa since it will enable them to protect their production and have an insurace in case of any risks. It will also help them regulate the market of agricultural products in order to set a price for each one
  • We identified a missing gap in the value chain that was the capacity to access the market for smallholder farmers after they have successfully cultivated their commodities. Access to the market was a huge problem for millions of smallholder farmers.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta is fulfilling a market gap that is the need for smallholder farmers to access the market.
  • AgroCenta focuses as well as Seedstars on achieving the Sustainable Goals set up by the UN
    • sawsanenn
       
      one of the main goals is to reach economic growth by empowering smallholders farmers to see agriculture not only as a survival solution but as an investment
  • Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.
    • hibaerrai
       
      Agrocenta main goals are the following: first and the most evident one no poverty especially for farmers who are not paid enough. second, gender equality and finally economic agricultural development within the country.
  • A great team for sure! Our major strength has been a team made of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences and a deep understanding of the agricultural value chain. This asset allowed us to save a lot of time we would have naturally spent on trying to fine tune and launch the AgroCenta platform. Thanks to that we avoided making the common mistakes many new and unexperienced founders make.
    • ghtazi
       
      what we can understand is that having a great team is the key asset that led to the rapid growth of Agrocenta. cross-cultural team has been a plus for the development of agrocenta. it helped the company to save time and avoid making common mistakes that many new and inexperienced founders make.
  • Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
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: Digital food distribution platform creating shared value for businesses and ... - 2 views

  • Our Cropchain and LendIt platforms solve these two problems. Cropchain is our user-friendly integrated agricultural supply chain management platform that allows organizations to manage everything in the agricultural supply chain from outgrower schemes, logistics, traceability to digital trading, quality assurance and data analytics. LendIt, our financial inclusion platform enables farmers access digital services such mobile money payments for commodities sold, micro-lending/input financing, crop insurance and pension scheme for the informal sector.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it highlights how AgroCenta solves two persistent problems in the Ghanian agricultural value chain. First, agricultural supply chain management is ensured through the Cropchain platform. Second, the financial inclusion mission of the company is ensured by the LendIt platform.
  • Our Cropchain and LendIt platforms solve these two problems. Cropchain is our user-friendly integrated agricultural supply chain management platform that allows organizations to manage everything in the agricultural supply chain from outgrower schemes, logistics, traceability to digital trading, quality assurance and data analytics. LendIt, our financial inclusion platform enables farmers access digital services such mobile money payments for commodities sold, micro-lending/input financing, crop insurance and pension scheme for the informal sector.
    • aminej
       
      This article shows that AgroCenta is built around an online trading platform which connects smallholder farmers to a larger structured market. It was founded by two ex-esoko employees Francis Obirikorang and Michael K. Ocansey in 2015. It is located in Ghana and more precisely in the capital which is Accra. The service is used through a smartphone so the main target customer here will be small holder farmers who have a phone.
  • Onboarding smallholder farmers onto the AgroCenta platform. Agents visit communities where smallholder farmers who deal in sorghum, rice, maize, millet and soybean are registered onto the AgroCenta platform to trade. Agents also work with farmer based organizations (FBOs) to carry out trading activities. 2 Facilitating trade deals on behalf of Smallholder farmers. Agents deal with buyers who wish to purchase directly from smallholder farmers. AgroCenta agents are trained in the field of technology, sales and marketing to effectively help smallholder farmers who have little or no knowledge of technology trade easily. 3 Gathering market information and statistical data. Agents are assigned to major trading markets across the country to collate data on market pricing for various commodities. This information is relayed to smallholder farmers via Voice technologies in languages they read and understand.
    • sawsanenn
       
      This excerpt is important because it shows how Agrocenta's agents help smallholder farmers, what are the responsibilities they have towards their customers. Plus, it encourage other farmers to join the digitalization world to improve their businesses.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Onboarding smallholder farmers onto the AgroCenta platform. Agents visit communities where smallholder farmers who deal in sorghum, rice, maize, millet and soybean are registered onto the AgroCenta platform to trade. Agents also work with farmer based organizations (FBOs) to carry out trading activities. 2 Facilitating trade deals on behalf of Smallholder farmers. Agents deal with buyers who wish to purchase directly from smallholder farmers. AgroCenta agents are trained in the field of technology, sales and marketing to effectively help smallholder farmers who have little or no knowledge of technology trade easily. 3 Gathering market information and statistical data. Agents are assigned to major trading markets across the country to collate data on market pricing for various commodities. This information is relayed to smallholder farmers via Voice technologies in languages they read and understand.
    • sawsanenn
       
      This excerpt is important because it shows how the Agrocent'as agents help the smallholders' farmers access different financial services, plus it encourages the other farmers to join the digitalization world and develop their businesses
  • Our Cropchain and LendIt platforms solve these two problems. Cropchain is our user-friendly integrated agricultural supply chain management platform that allows organizations to manage everything in the agricultural supply chain from outgrower schemes, logistics, traceability to digital trading, quality assurance and data analytics.
    • mehdibella
       
      this section shows how much Agrocenta is dealing with its supply chain management to allow farmers benefit from different schemes
  • AgroCenta is made up of dedicated and talented people. Our core team is made up of project managers, agricultural experts and consultants, software developers, regional and district managers and field agents.
  • Onboarding smallholder farmers onto the AgroCenta platform. Agents visit communities where smallholder farmers who deal in sorghum, rice, maize, millet and soybean are registered onto the AgroCenta platform to trade. Agents also work with farmer based organizations (FBOs) to carry out trading activities.
    • mehdibella
       
      AgroCenta is made up of dedicated and talented people. Our core team is made up of project managers, agricultural experts and consultants, software developers, regional and district managers and field agents.
  • ase directly from smallholder farmers. AgroCenta agents are trained in the field of technology, sales and marketing to effectively help smallholder farmers who have little or no knowledge of technology trade easily.
  • AgroCenta is made up of dedicated and talented people. Our core team is made up of project managers, agricultural experts and consultants, software developers, regional and district managers and field agents.
    • ghtazi
       
      this part is important because we can see how devoted and dedicated is agrocenta when it comes to choosing their team
  •  
    Some of the advantages that will come with this platform are reducing unemployment and connecting between the lower social class and the high social class in order to develop relations and improve their services. Farmers will gain more profit since it will become more regulated and distribution facilities will be smoother between the two
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.
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."
mehdibella

Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta raises $790k pre-series A - Techpoint Africa - 1 views

  • In 2018, Agrocenta won the Seedstars World competition — an early-stage startup pitching competition –, receiving $500k in equity funding. By December of the same year, the company closed a seed round of equity and non-equity funding to scale its operations. 
  • Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta has raised $790,000 pre-series A funding. The investors that took part in the round include Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation.
  • The latest funding takes Agrocenta’s total disclosed funding to $1.9 million.
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    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This article is important because it reflects the/some sources of funding, namely grants from competitions or series A equity, that AgroCenta is using to finance its operations.
  • “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission.”
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      I feel grateful to know that AgroCenta is being supported by leading institutions. During this pandemic, farmers need all the support they can get.
  • Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta has raised $790,000 pre-series A funding. The investors that took part in the round include Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo
  • The company claims the registered farmers on its app, CropChain, has rapidly grown from 3,000 to 48,000. These farmers handle crops like maize, rice, soybean, cowpeas, and sorghum.
  • “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission.”
    • mehdibella
       
      Ghanaian Agritech startup, Agrocenta has raised $790,000 pre-series A funding. The investors that took part in the round include Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo
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.
mbellakbail69

Ghanaian Agritech Startup Agrocenta Wins $500,000 Investment In Seedstars World Competi... - 0 views

  • Agrocenta, a Ghanaian agritech startup has won a $500,000 investment for coming first globally at the just concluded 2018 Seedstars Global competition in Lausanne, Switerland. The final leg of Seedstars World early-stage pitching competition took place on Thursday with 21 African startups among the 65 finalists competing in Switzerland. At the live final pitching showdown, 12 shortlisted startups went head-to-head, with Agrocenta eventually being crowned the overall global winner of the contest, taking home a $500,000 investment from Seedstars World.
    • mbellakbail69
       
      Agrocenta is an online platform that links smallholder farmers in the staple food value chain to a broader online commercial market, accesses the services of truck distribution by clicking a button and also gets real-time market information through SMS and voice services to their mobile phones that make it very competitive.
hibaerrai

Ghana's AgroCenta raises US$ 790k to scale its Agri-tech ecosystem - 0 views

  • Through AgroCenta’s CropChain platform, smallholder farmers can execute transactions with accurate information. Since the app’s launch, the average CropChain farmer’s income has increased by circa 35%.  AgroCenta says it has managed to reduce food waste by 25%.
    • tahaemsd
       
      via an all encompasing ecosystem approach, agrocenta blends cutting edge digital innovation with traditional on the ground operations to transform the lives of smallholder farmes in Ghana
  • Agriculture accounts for circa. 17% of Ghana’s GDP. Through its outreach and services, AgroCenta has increased crop yields of farmers by 40% thereby contributing to Ghana’s economy at large.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta contributes to Ghana's economy by providing support to smallholder farmers along the value chain.
  • This funding was secured from UK charity Shell Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation. “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission. The demand for agricultural raw materials from offtakers in the brewery, manufacturing and consumer sector is increasing exponentially because of the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place by the government of Ghana, hence this capital injection will help to secure purchases at fair and transparent prices from smallholders — a much needed lifeline for many who are at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid”. Francis Obirikorang, AgroCenta’s CEO and Co-Founder Michael Ocansey said while highlighting the importance and criticality of this investment.
    • hibaerrai
       
      After the Covid-19 Outbreak, the situation in farms was quite challenging as lockdowns were imposed. Now with easier restrictions, AgroCenta raised a huge amount of funds in order to cover for the losses and develop its fintech more and more. This money should be used to develop programs and services that support financial inclusion.
  •  
    "Agriculture accounts for circa. 17% of Ghana's GDP. Through its outreach and services, AgroCenta has increased crop yields of farmers by 40% thereby contributing to Ghana's economy at large."
kenza_abdelhaq

AgroCenta raises US$ 790k of Pre-Series A Working Capital & Development Funding From Sh... - 0 views

  • Francis Obirikorang, AgroCenta’s CEO and Co-Founder Michael Ocansey highlight the importance and criticality of this investment: “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission. The demand for agricultural raw materials from offtakers in the brewery, manufacturing and consumer sector is increasing exponentially because of the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place by the government of Ghana, hence this capital injection will help to secure purchases at fair and transparent prices from smallholders — a much needed lifeline for many who are at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid”.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it highlights how the investments received by AgroCenta from investors and partners (UK charity Shell Foundation, the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation) helped the company mitigate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, and allowed for its operations to continue and frow.
  • This funding, secured from UK charity Shell Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation, will enable AgroCenta to further develop its smallholder farmer inclusion programmes and procure crops at transparent and fair market prices to service offtake contracts.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Agrocenta receives funding from diverse global institutions in order to invest in its inclusion programs.
  • In addition, lacking adequate infrastructure, logistics and transportation also limits their access to larger urban markets, where they could obtain much better pricing for their crops. Furthermore, the lack of basic data that enables KYC (Know Your Customer) and a limited or non-existent credit history means that smallholders have very limited access to finance. This prevents them from being able to utilise all of their land for growing crops or forces them to resort to using lower quality inputs — leading to stagnation at the bottom of the pyramid.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta doesn't only help smallholder farmers to have access to markets and financing, but it also supports them with logistics, transportation, and infrastructure.
ghtazi

Ghanaian agri-tech startup AgroCenta raises $790k pre-Series A funding - Disrupt Africa - 0 views

  • “The demand for agricultural raw materials from offtakers in the brewery, manufacturing and consumer sector is increasing exponentially because of the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place by the government of Ghana, hence this capital injection will help to secure purchases at fair and transparent prices from smallholders — a much needed lifeline for many who are at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid.”
    • aminej
       
      This is an issue we also used to have in Morocco in period of crisis. Farmers start increasing prices because of the high demand and people start complainning. It is important to Regulate prices in the Market in order to avoid a civil war in period of crisis
  • AgroCenta will use the funding to further develop its smallholder farmer inclusion programmes and procure crops at transparent and fair market prices to service offtake contracts. The startup’s chief executive officer (CEO) Francis Obirikorang and co-founder Michael Ocansey said the investment was vitally important.
    • tahaemsd
       
      having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the covid backdrop, can be a significant milestone for Agrocenta
  • This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission,” they said. 
    • sawsanenn
       
      this excerpt is important because it shows the solidarity between companies during a crisis time. Plus we can see the efforts to help smallholder farmers to fight this crisis. this is another approach for economic growth even during a pandemic
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Founded in 2016, AgroCenta operates a mobile merchanting platform which provides market information, storage and delivery solutions, and financial services to smallholder farmers in Ghana.
    • ghtazi
       
      agrocenta It operates a mobile merchanting platform that provides smallholder farmers in Ghana with market information, storage, and delivery solutions, and financial services.
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.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • 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
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.
hibaerrai

Enterprise Trustees Partners Agrocenta to provide retirement income security for small ... - 0 views

  • Enterprise Trustees Limited has launched a partnership with Agrocenta, a digital food distribution platform, to provide retirement solutions as a value addition to small holder farmers in Afram Plains of Ghana.Under the scheme, farmers will make voluntary personal pension contributions during the harvesting seasons from the sale of their produce to Agrocenta.  The benefits will include lump sum payouts, periodic withdrawals and a life insurance cover.Agrocenta currently works with about 46,000 farmers across several regions in Ghana. These farmers will be assisted by Agrocenta field officers to enroll onto the Pensions Scheme via a USSD shortcode at the community level. 
    • hibaerrai
       
      AgroCenta customers will be granted retirement income and will have the peace of mind working and knowing that it is secured.
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.
mehdibella

AgroCenta Aims At Going beyond the Ghanaian Borders by 2018 - Tech In Africa - 0 views

  • Given the fact that the startup did well in 2017 by guiding the Ghanaian small-scale farmers to a larger market, it now wants to expand further to Nigeria. At the same time, the startup is planning to launch piloting program in Ghana within 2018. According to AgroCenta CEO and co-founder Francis Obirikorang, the startup will have an initial 100,000 smallholder farmers in Nigeria. The farmers will be connected to almost six, small, medium and large-scale market to sell directly.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is relevant because it reflects AgroCenta's future plans of expansions beyond the Ghanaian borders. This would be helpful in later steps of the capstone and could help with getting ideas about strategies to adopt.
  • AgroCenta was recently selected by Seedstars World for its Seedstars Growth Program. Seedstars Growth Program offers high growth startups $50,000 with access to business advisory and marketing services on top.
  • The company has got some investors like Greentech Capital Partners, Isebaltic Trust, World Trade Organisation and SANAD Technical Facility in Jordan among others. Currently, the startup has an ongoing agreement with various companies that include Guinness Ghana Breweries and is hoping to bring Nestle Ghana on board within 2018.
    • mehdibella
       
      It was noted that logistics alone makes Ghana to either gain or lose around $200 million potential revenue. The company is currently being funded by close relatives and friends with the founders investing $20,000 which caters for various issues
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The company has got some investors like Greentech Capital Partners, Isebaltic Trust, World Trade Organisation and SANAD Technical Facility in Jordan among others. Currently, the startup has an ongoing agreement with various companies that include Guinness Ghana Breweries and is hoping to bring Nestle Ghana on board within 2018.
    • sawsanenn
       
      Building relationship and partnership with companies from other countries will allow agrocenta to bring more customers from other countries
  • AgroCenta was founded by Michael Ocansey and Obiorikorang in 2015 who by then were working at an agricultural information communication service Esoko. The founders realized that the farmers were losing almost 40% of their income to middlemen. Although the aim was to develop a trading plan, they, later on, saw the need of working on logistics.
    • ghtazi
       
      the company was founded in 2015 by Michael Ocansey and Obiorikorang. they were working at an agricultural information communication service Esoko. the founders then realized that the farmers lose almost 40% of their income. so they decided to create Agrocenta in order to help the smallfarmers.
kenzabenessalah

AgroCenta | GODAN - 0 views

  • AgroCenta is an agricultural technology platform that 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 focuses on 4 key areas in the agricultural value chain namely market linkage, access to real time market information, access to on-demand trucks and logistics services and financial inclusion platform all targeted at the smallholder farmer
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      AgroCenta doesn't only provide access to smallholder farmers, but there's an entire process behind it. It is in charge of the logistics, the delivery system, the finances, and the real time data.
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.
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