TruTrade

GIVING FARMERS A BETTER DEAL

DIGITISING AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS

BUILDING SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS

TruTrade About Us brochure
Opportunities for Women brochure
Sourcing Service brochure

About

TruTrade is a social enterprise providing smallholder farmers with a reliable route to market and fair prices for their produce.

Our mission is to increase smallholder farmer incomes through integrating them into sustainable value chains. 

We do this by bringing together the ‘supply power’ of millions of small-scale producers, to meet the demand of local, regional and international markets.

Our Trade Transparency Solutions are making rural agricultural markets work better for farmers, aggregators and buyers.

Watch the video below on how TruTrade provides markets and incomes:

Farmers

have a direct link to markets and get better prices

The scale of the problem? Globally, 500 million smallholder farms provide livelihoods for 2 billion+ people, and produce about 80% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. However, small family-run farms are home to the majority of people living in absolute poverty.

Aggregators

have a business opportunity and can earn commission

Where is the problem? Globally, but TruTrade's current focus is on Kenya and Uganda. 80% of Uganda's population are involved in agriculture, and approx 35 million depend on the outcomes of smallholder farming. In Kenya, at least 16 million people rely on smallholder farming for their livelihoods.

Buyers

get a reliable and traceable source of good quality produce

Why does the problem exist? Small-scale farmers work in unorganized and fragmented value chains with no connection to buyers, poor agronomical practices, limited logistics and access to finance for production or aggregation. For most agricultural produce, both supply and demand exist - the challenge is to match them. There's a failure of coordination and of the market for risk, resulting in lack of market security, high price volatility and inefficiencies.

Our Services

Platform

We have an online and mobile enabled trading and payment platform for collaborative supply chain management. This allows for the capture of all costs, analysis of transaction viability and price setting; registration of farmers and triggering payments; and tracking of produce from collection to delivery. The development of our technology platform and digital trading records is opening up significant new possibilities for farmer and business credentialing and gives global commodity buyers the ability to connect to their smallholder farmer suppliers.

Agent Network

We have a growing network of sourcing agents who manage collection points, check and weigh produce and trigger payments direct to farmers. An agent will typically source 20-80MT a season from 40-100 farmers, depending on value chain, area and experience. We are creating business opportunities for more agents to reach more farmers each year. In this way TruTrade is expanding its Market Connect Service across rural areas in Kenya and Uganda, enabling smallholder farmers to engage directly with volume buyers and benefit from economies of scale.

Trade Finance

TruTrade provides trade finance so that farmers can be paid as they hand over produce at the collection point. Our trade finance covers transaction costs including packaging, handling, storage, transport, taxes and any value addition services up to delivery to final buyer. It addresses the sale to settlement gap which typically constrains market opportunities. When the buyer pays TruTrade the fund is replenished. ​

How We Work

Check it out

We start with a simple value chain analysis, so we understand the market demand and supply for a commodity.
We use our platform to check out the commercial viability and social impact of potential transactions.

AGREE DEAL

Next we negotiate supply contracts or Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) with buyers.
Deals which break-even can now be approved on our platform.

START SOURCING

Agents display the price.
Farmers bring produce to a collection point, the agent checks quality, weighs and then triggers a payment directly from TruTrade to the farmer’s mobile or bank account.

AGGREGATE & DELIVER

TruTrade manages the aggregation from different agents, transaction logistics and delivery to the final buyer.

PAY COMMISSIONS

TruTrade and Agents earn a commission linked to the volume of produce sourced and its quality.

CLOSE DEAL

After buyer payment is received all figures are finalized.
If there is any profit it is shared equally between farmers and TruTrade at the end of the season.

Commodities

Oilseeds

Soyabean, Sesame, Groundnut, Chia

Root Crops

Cassava

Tree Crops

Avocado, Cashew nut, Macadamia nut and Mangos.

Cereals

White sorghum, Millet, Rice and Maize

Pulses

Greengrams

Livestock

Chicken

 
 
 

Our Clients

Our Impact

We envision a world where smallholder farmers prosper and agribusiness drives rural development.

TruTrade provides an alternative to the buy-low-sell-high trading practice common in agricultural value chains in Africa. Our business model has been developed from experience, to create a practical solution that is cost-effective. We are passionate about achieving social impact at scale and the growing reach of digital financial services makes this possible. We:

  • Increase smallholder farmer incomes and build their confidence to invest in production.

  • Create rural employment opportunities, in particular for youth as village agents.

  • Enable agribusinesses to source sustainably and create shared value.

Our Team

TruTrade has an ambitious and experienced leadership team, bringing together expertise in supply chain management, finance and social business.

Our dynamic Operations team is growing rapidly with Area Supervisors across Kenya and Uganda and a responsive back office staff supporting transactions, managing supplier relationships and developing new business opportunities.

Jo Ryan
interim ceo

Over 15 years experience in strategic and financial management in Africa, including lead roles in Traidlinks and Partner Africa.

 

Radhika Suri
Head of Finance

A senior finance professional with over 14 years’ experience in the development, medical and aid sector having worked for International NGOs in Kenya and the UK. Radika has also worked for Ernst and Young, and as a self-employed entrepreneur in the agricultural sector for a number of years.

Our Development Partners