Afrikamart

Founded in 2018 by Senegalese couple Mignane and Albert Diouf, Afrikamart is an agritech company addressing inefficiencies in Africa's fresh produce supply chain. The founders, who come from a farming family, were motivated by the struggles of their relatives who faced difficulties accessing markets and generating a sustainable income from agriculture. This personal experience, coupled with observing how it was easier to import vegetables from Morocco than to source them within Senegal, highlighted the fragmented nature of the local value chain and inspired the creation of the company.

Mignane Diouf serves as the CEO, leveraging his background as a software engineer with a Master's degree in Software Engineering from the European Institute of Technology. Albert Diouf, the COO, has a background in agricultural commodity trading, an entrepreneurial journey that began while he was a student in China. Together, they lead a team to digitize, finance, and connect smallholder farmers with urban retailers. The company operates primarily in Senegal, with a presence in Mali and Morocco, and plans to expand into other West African countries.

Afrikamart functions as a B2B platform that facilitates the collection, transport, and trade of fresh fruits and vegetables. It serves small-scale farmers by offering them marketing and distribution services, and on the other end, provides a digital purchasing hub for merchants, hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets. The business model is based on reselling; Afrikamart handles the end-to-end logistics and adds a margin to the suppliers' prices. This approach aims to reduce post-harvest losses, which can be as high as 50%, and formalize the fresh food value chain.

The company's platform utilizes technology, including AI, to streamline operations. A network of field agents and scouts onboards farmers, aggregates produce, and ensures quality standards are met. This physical presence is enhanced by a tech platform that provides real-time market insights, automates quality checks, and optimizes logistics. In July 2022, Afrikamart secured USD 850,000 in a seed funding round from investors including BLOC Smart Africa, Orange Ventures, Launch Africa, and Teranga Capital to scale its operations. As of late 2022, the company was delivering up to 10 tons of produce daily to hundreds of regular customers across several cities in Senegal, with a network of over 2,000 farmers.

Keywords: agritech, supply chain, B2B marketplace, smallholder farmers, fresh produce, food distribution, logistics, mobile platform, market linkage, West Africa