Farmula is building the B2B digital infrastructure that directly connects producers to retailers along the food supply chain.
Current Status
Our product is live in the market. We are building the first digital distributed-distribution system which allows us partner with Distributors. We currently are growing our distributors at 12%WoW and have recorded over $1 million in transactions over the platform since launch in February.
Market
Distributors Retailers Riders
Problem or Opportunity
1. The first is that almost every aspect of food distribution is still manual, everything's still on paper. So, it's not just the sales, but even collections, reconciliation, communication, and gathering data, the whole process is still manual, and that is a core problem. We still don't have a digital food distribution system. 2. The second problem is there's no data If you don't have digital systems, there's no way to actually collect data because you can't collect data manually. It has to be automated, and that is still very limited. 3. And lastly, the fragmentation problem. The trend you see across the continent, is hundreds of thousands of key players operating in silos. That interoperability isn't there.
Solution (product or service)
We are building a cost efficient network where we combine a distributed-distribution system with integrated logistics. What this means is we have a wide range of stock under management available for retailers to buy. And because our network of distributors is wide, it allows us provide stock at the lowest cost and in the shortest times.
To make this possible, we have a distributor inventory management app to automate the key operations of distributors. An inventory ordering bot over WhatsApp for retailers to place orders and pay for stock easily And, a simple logistics app to allow tuk tuk riders onboard themselves to carry out our last mile deliveries.
Competitors
Open air markets still account for over 85% of all B2B distribution done in the continent.
Advantages or differentiators
We improve automation of primary processes through digital tools tailored to the informal market.
We are collecting the largest amount of data which could never have been collected and utilised in real-time if collected manually.
We are building the possibility for interoperability between players making trade significantly easier.
Finance
We charge commissions on every sale through our platform.
On average, we charge 0.65% to distributors, a fixed charge of 20 cents to retailers for every order and 25% to logistics riders who complete deliveries over the platform.
