Project description
What problem are you trying to solve?
In 2019, there are nearly 50 millions of smallholder farmers in Africa. These, although providing up to 80% of the continent’s food, are living with less than $2 a day and are among the poorest and most vulnerable populations in the world. This is unacceptable.
There are many causes: Difficulty in accessing efficient financing: only 2% of African smallholder farmers that have access to direct loans, Post-harvest losses: about 40% of crops in sub-Saharan Africa are lost before they can be sold, Gender inequality: only 10% of rural women in Africa have access to land and credit, Financial exclusion: only 17% of the rural population in Africa that has access to mobile payment.
In addition, there are poor yields due to limited access to quality resources (certified inputs, mechanization, technological solutions) at affordable prices and the lack of adequate technical training.
What is your solution to this problem?
Seekewa detects projects in subsistence farming from cooperatives, giving priority to women and youth. After thorough analysis, the most profitable ones are published on our platform. Contributors can then buy vouchers valued in points, distribute them on their favourite projects and track their progress online. With the money collected Seekewa buys all the required resources and delivers them to the farmers. Seekewa assists the farmers throughout the execution and sells the product on its behalf.
Once the project is completed, Seekewa returns all their profits to the farmers via mobile money, reimburses all contributors in points and the cycle can start again. We promote sustainable agriculture and are committed to fighting post-harvest losses. In addition, Seekewa pays particular attention to gender equality with at least 70% of projects carried out by women and to the promotion of youth employment with at least 50% of projects carried out by 18-35.
What is your latest update on your innovation?
To create more engagement with individual contributors, Seekewa has created the Payless service. As members of the community, Seekewa now systematically grants them special discounts on the selling price of its farmers’ products. This creates an additional reason to contribute (in addition to the supportive aspect) and on the other hand, increases the market for the sale of the food produced. It is important to note that when an organization contributes by purchasing a voucher, its employees also benefit from the Seekewa Payless service.
Although the service is only available in Cote d’Ivoire for the moment, we are working to make it available in as many countries as possible through partnerships with major distribution chains.
