Boost For Agritech As SC Ventires Launches Tawi In Kenya

SC Ventures, the fintech, investment and ventures arm of Standard Chartered, launched a Kenyan-based Tawi, a B2B agritech marketplace for secure e-commerce transactions for smallholder farmers in Kenya. This provides a major boost in the country’s agritech sector as Tawi aims to provide farmers with a viable and consistent, market, price transparency and efficient supply chain management.

The agritech marketplace also aims to help Kenyan farmers improve crop quality, scale, and make the food and agriculture value more sustainable. The platform sources fresh produce directly from farmers. In line with promoting diversity and inclusion, Tawi will also ensure that at least 25 percent of the farmers it partners with are women and youth.

“Tawi will connect our farmers to an estimated $1.6 billion market opportunity,” said Cherotich Rutto, Founder and CEO of Tawi, “Through this platform, farmers will earn more for their produce while also improving the supply-chain efficiency of high-quality produce to commercial clients. We are doing this by aggregating demand and simplifying the process for selling and buying fresh produce at a commercial scale.”

SC Ventures started incubating Tawi in 2022 to address some of the smallholder farmers’ challenges, such as lack of viable marketplaces, which resulted in post-harvest losses. Other challenges that Tawi is tackling include poor quality produce, fragmented supply chains due to inappropriate infrastructure and too many middlemen. Since Tawi started testing the platform in February, it has onboarded over 1,000 farmers, 250 commercial kitchens and fulfilled over 1,000 deliveries.

The agritech platform is starting off by supplying commercial kitchens, which represent around $210 million in consistent and predictable market opportunity. Tawi has adopted a phased approach to building its marketplace and business model. In the future, Tawi plans to embed financial services including loans and micro-insurance, and value-added services including offering agronomic support for best agricultural practices.

Pesapal Gets License To Operate In Rwanda

Pesapal, a start-up focusing on online payments in Africa, has now been officially licensed by the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) as a Payment Service Provider (PSP).

Pesapal Rwanda can now roll out affordable, convenient, and secure digital financial services, making it easier for Rwandan businesses and customers to make and accept payments.

“We have imagined and are passionate about building Africa’s digital future. Our on-the-ground team looks forward to working with the Rwandan authorities and customers to roll out digital tools for ticketing, reservations, and reporting that suit their needs,” Agosta Liko, Pesapal Group CEO and Co-Founder said.

Businesses struggling to accept digital payments in Rwanda have found that it is making it difficult for them to grow and compete effectively. Pesapal Rwanda will provide digital payment solutions, including mobile money Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), online and Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, enabling cash deposits and withdrawals, execution of certain transactions, issuance/acquisition of (insert type) instruments, and money remittances.

Speaking after receiving the license, the Pesapal Rwanda Country Manager, Leonard Towwet, said that the fintech will provide Rwandan businesses with stand-alone POS terminals that can accept payments in-store. “Our online payment gateway allows easier integration on business websites supporting mobile money and card transactions.”

The policy goals of the Rwanda Fintech Strategy 2022-2027 – promote customercentric financial inclusion and financial sector development and position Rwanda as a regional financial center.