SSNUP project completion: upscaling a digital trading platform for fresh fruit and vegetables in Senegal
Afrikamart is an agricultural technology (AgTech) business based in Senegal that developed a platform for connecting smallholder farmers with small retailers.
In the framework of its partnership with Bamboo Capital Partners, SSNUP supported Afrikamart in upscaling the platform by automating data collection as well as the management of data, transactions, stock and financial risk to connect a higher number of fresh produce smallholder farmers and retailers across markets.
As a result of the technical assistance project, Afrikamart signed up 9 800 additional smallholder farmers as suppliers and 4 050 retailers as buyers. This new market provided the smallholders with a total of over 1.4 million euros in income and generated over 2 million euros in sales to end-clients.
Business model adjustments
Despite the successful upscaling, Afrikamart realised that the fresh produce market is not sufficiently mature to make their business model viable. Towards the end of the project, Afrikamart therefore narrowed down its activities to mangoes and peanuts, the most promising value chains.
The AgTech has since continued to innovate in terms of collecting data on smallholder farmers (for example concerning their land size, experience, quality and history of products) to facilitate their market access. Afrikamart is currently piloting a peanut farmer engagement model in partnership with a public food processor.