Structuring agriculture value chains in Africa

Complete Farmer is an agricultural marketplace in Ghana which primarily connects farmers to buyers (trading and industrial companies). The company also connects service providers (financing, logistics, inputs) to producers and buyers. A technology platform has been developed to optimize the intermediation process, order tracking and transactions. 

An operator like Complete Farmer plays a key role in structuring agriculture value chains, by offering an alternative model to traditional networks of agricultural middlemen. Complete Farmer provides small producers with direct access to markets and allows them to benefit from greater transparency on prices/volumes and assistance for the agronomic aspect. There is a major impact as the producers working with Complete Farmer see an increase in their yields and incomes.  

Complete Farmer has raised USD 10m in a Pre-Series A funding round of equity and debt. Proparco has invested USD 1m, alongside the investors ARAF, Goodwell, Sahel Capital and Newtown Partners (a fund financed by the industry player Imperial Logistics). The financing will allow the company to develop its activity in Ghana and launch its activities in Côte d’Ivoire.

The main expected impacts of the project are as follows:  

• Support for some 25,000 jobs over the next 5 years as Complete Farmer plans to work with more than 25,000 producers over the next 5 years
• Contribution to gender equality making it eligible for the 2X Challenge: over 30% of women in the management team and on the Board of Directors, and almost 40% of women employees benefiting from anti-discrimination policies.

The project should contribute to SDG 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 5 (Gender equality) and SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth).