Commodity exchange market (COMREX)

Africa agriculture value chain has not been at premium on its performance because of the avalanche of the inherent inefficiencies that characterized the elements.

A typical Africa farmer will produce the seed he needs for his planting, grow and harvest the crops on the field, process the harvested crops, market the processed produce and even be the final consumer himself, promoting this the saying"Jack of all trades, master of none"

Thus we want to help farmers, investors and industries  do business on a single platform by developing an online agric value chain solution that can provide online payment of transaction, opportunity for investors to invest online, conduct product quality check of agro produce, extension and logistics services.

The immediate benefits shall focus on the creation of a better business competitiveness, job creation, investment opportunities, infrastructural improvements, global inclusion, Africa/world global agro trading platform and better information access.

70% of Africa farmers make a living from agriculture. But it accounts for just 33% of the continent GDP. Only eight (8) out of fifty four(54) countries in sub-sahara Africa have kept promises to invest more in agriculture. If they do, they could help lift 85million people out if extreme poverty by 2024, provide jobs and boost the continent economy.
Nigeria and other Africa countries agricultural value chain has not been at premium in its performance because of the avalanche of inherent inefficiencies that characterized the elements. A typical Nigeria farmer(smallholders) will carry all the whole agricultural value chain services to himself, thus promoting the saying"jack of all trade master of none". This has led to food wastage, poverty, hunger, inflation of price of food and many more.
Traceability is no longer just about or  from consumers, but a demand and a necessity which is one that is only growing stronger. According to food safety tech, “A recent survey found that consumers want to see everything from a complete ingredient breakdown to sourcing information, with 94% of respondents saying they are likely to be more loyal to a brand that offers complete transparency. 

Solution: Comrex is a disruptive innovation and B2B agri value chain solution helps collect farmers data and provide online payment between the buyers and sellers, conduct product quality check, logistics services, extension services to farmers and an investment segment on the platform for investors to invest.

Comrex has three major components

1. Connect agro buyers such as industries with sellers(farmers) to bid on an agro products and receives instant response

2. Conduct a quality check of the product before shipment or sale.

3. Conduct logistics and transportation of the agro products after concluding the quality products check.

4. Block chain system for food traceability.

5. Insurance cover and sales contract agreement.

6. Digital online base trading and investment platform for investors to invest their money  that will be use to empower farmers and receive dividend

However, this lucrative market relies on a series of advanced and connective technologies, which enable investors to invest and withdraw dividend. Also for buyers and sellers to interact and transact fast. Without these innovations, the market would not be able to function efficiently.

One of the most important factors is broadband cellular network technology, which helps to facilitate real-time trades.

Comrex present wide range of economic benefits to farmers, communities and the society, in the form of improved income and livelihood. This, in turn generates significant social value for investors, donors, government and other stakeholders around the key target of the UN SDGs. Some of the key social or environmental impact are 

 REDUCE WASTAGE: Comrex aim to reduce post harvest wastage through it market efficiency. 

 IMPROVES INCOME: Comrex provide greater transparency and visibility of market prices to farmers, resulting in fairer prices compared to those offered by a typical middlemen.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION: Through our digital solutions on our digital platform, farmers can build a digital history of their business transactions which, in turn could allow them to demonstrate their credit worthiness to financial institutions and other financial services provider. 

 INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY: Other benefit stand to gain it incentive for farmers to increase their on farm investment and productivity. 

 IMPACT ON ADJACENT SERVICES: Comrex can have a direct positive impact on adjacent services, notably mobile services, such as mobile money and logistics. We are intend to start locally by connecting farmers to buyers and help them have access to investment and extend to other Africa countries.

Agriculture is recognized as a critical enabler of economic growth in developing countries, thus, the importance of agriculture towards national food security, food wastage, poverty, hunger and job creation cannot be overemphasized. For Nigeria and other Africa countries to move closer to unlocking its full agriculture potential, the value chain have to be identified, mapped, prioritized and digitised. For Africa to feed her teeming population, our supply value chain starts from gathering farmers data, this will help in pre farming preparation, so as to monitor and support the farmers.

Comrex is an online agri trading platform, with comprehensive software solution, providing an ability to create bid or offer for buyers and sellers, set a quantity & price, provide buyers with agro products details, decide upon buyers preferred incoterm, display offers/bid of buy and seller, decide on logistics services, quality check,  With the advent of e-trading, the investors are actively rushing towards it. A growing number of active investors are bypassing conventional brokerage offices entirely and doing all their investment online. In my country Nigeria and continent our solution have no competitor. Our only competitor is Agric market place, which have similar products like us. But our competitive edge over them is our ability to bring investor to invest in farmers, our introduction of a blockchain system to help good traceability and farmers data information system. That is having the collection of farmers information.

Comrex digital platform draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. The core technology that power our solution is as follows

1. Blockchain

Blockchain and blockchain-based distributed ledger technologies can help our supply chain by aiding transaction transparency and security.

In addition to making movement of goods more efficient and reliable, blockchain-based solutions are disrupting the world of trade financing. For example, blockchain is being used to simplify the long and tedious process of obtaining a Letter of Credit (LoC), a payment mechanism used in international trade.

2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can be used to optimize trade shipping routes, manage vessel and truck traffic at ports, and translate e-commerce search queries from one language into other languages and respond with translated inventory.

More than efficiencies gains and better consumer services, AI is also being used to make global trade sustainable. 

3. Mobile payments

From Apply Pay to Alipay to M-Pesa, mobile payments are transforming the way we live and connecting more people to market opportunities. According to the world bank global inclusion data base, the number of people who gained access to bank accounts increased by 20% between 2011 and 2014, and mobile money accounts were a major drive for financial inclusion, especially in emerging economies.

4. Trading services via digital platforms

It’s increasingly easier to trade services online.

The growth of the digital economy has already disrupted industries as diverse as media, music and transportation. The penetration of thousands of FinTechstart-ups into all spheres of financial services has now brought this revolution to the disruption of money itself. It’s a development that will increasingly blur the distinction between money and data. To some degree, this has already happened. The growth of e-commerce and apps for ordering taxis or paying for restaurants means that the physical act of paying is already somewhat forgotten. As the internet of things enables a new round of machine-to-machine transaction growth in the years ahead, payment virtualization will intensify, with the potential for a proliferation of new stores of value to escape the cost, complexity and regulatory rigidity of traditional money.

Regulators, governments and businesses alike have much to gain as the internet of money gets under way. 
Leveraging low-cost, open-source technologies — such as cryptocurrencies blockchain or other distributed ledgers — opens the door to reaching poorer or excluded customers and serving needs that are not met by the existing financial services infrastructure. It could expand digital commerce above and beyond national lines, while allowing new forms of taxation to cater for an expanding mobile workforce.

The opportunities are limitless, but the obstacles to creating, managing and regulating a proliferating array of digital forms of money are substantial. 

There are various pathways from increased trade to sustainable and inclusive prosperity. Comrex theory relies on the assumption that increasing agro trade, affects the economy in such a way that reduces poverty, particularly for those working in sectors and geographic areas more affected by international trade. At the higher end of the theory of change, we believe two key necessary elements contribute to increasing trade.

These Elements are:

Reduce barrier to trade: Barriers to agro trade in Africa significantly raise trade costs for farmers, eroding the competitiveness of the region’s goods and services, inhibiting exports and ultimately stifling prosperity. High internal or regional trade costs present a major obstacle to farmers ability to connect to global value chains, effectively nullifying any comparative advantage by rendering exports noncompetitive
Comrex believes it can reduce barriers to trade and agro value chain  through the following:
Improved sustainable efficiency and capacity of transport infrastructure
Improved trading standards and reduced non-tariff barriers to trade
Effective trade systems and procedures

Increase business competitiveness: To take advantage of trade opportunities, comrex in  Africa must be able to compete in the global market and with inflows of foreign imports to Africa countries. Comrex will produce safe and competitive goods and services on time for their customers, as part of a functioning and efficient market system. Comrex will facilitate these market functions, fostering close partnerships with other services provider and promoting crowding-in and replication of successful relationships. This is all with a view to enhancing the scale of its impact and future sustainability through market-based solutions.

Currently we are on the prototype stage. We have not really lunch it to the market to get statistics of the number of people our solution is serving. But according to our survey and research, more than hundreds of Smallholders farmers are interested in the new digital approach. More than 10 agro industries are really satisfied with the approach and we have built  network with them through our partners. They believe it will be more convenient, secured payment, payment and good record keeping.  Also majority of investors  are will to take the bold step in investing in farmers and receive dividend at the end of the Investment period. In our first year intend to connect and have the database of not less than 1000 farmers in each country in 9 west Africa countries. Till in our first year, we would connect with more than 100 agro industries across the 9 West Africa countries and other buyers. Also we would have not less than 200 investor on our platform for the first year.

In the next five years, our statistics of our first year will multiple by five and we would extend our product and services to other Africa countries apart from the 9 west Africa countries.

Comrex present wide range of economic benefits to farmers, communities and the society, in the form of improved income and livelihood. This, in turn generates significant social value for investors, donors, government and other stakeholders around the key target of the UN SDGs. Some of the key social or environmental impact are

REDUCE WASTAGE: Comrex aim to reduce post harvest wastage through it market efficiency. Our online platform provide farmers with alternative. Farmers no longer have to choose between accepting low price offered by middlemen, searching for a last minute buyer and increasing the risk of post harvest losses. Comrex allows farmers to sell directly to buyers.
IMPROVES INCOME: Comrex provide greater transparency and visibility of market prices to farmers, resulting in fairer prices compared to those offered by a typical middlemen. Out platform has potential to improve livelihood and reduce poverty appeals to ethical buyers. Such as urban customer who want to know where their food comes from in order to support their local farming communities and economy.
FINANCIAL INCLUSION: Through our digital solutions on our digital platform, farmers can build a digital history of their business transactions which, in turn could allow them to demonstrate their credit worthiness to financial institutions and other financial services provider.
INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY: Other benefit stand to gain it incentive for farmers to increase their on farm investment and productivity.
IMPACT ON ADJACENT SERVICES: Comrex can have a direct positive impact on adjacent services, notably mobile services, such as mobile money and logistics. 

As crude oil began to dominate Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, agricultural productivity shrank due to neglect and underinvestment. Soon, local production struggled to meet demand amid a population boom. The corollary is that Africa’s largest country’s annual food import bill grew to about $20 billion every year.

Today, more than 80% of Nigeria  farmers are smallholder farmers and they are the main producers of over 90 percent of domestic output. A World Bank 2016 report found that “half of working Nigerians are in smallholder farming” but this group accounts for the “poorest 40 percent of the population compared to only 17 percent of wage workers.”

Poverty amongst small-scale farmers is due to myriad of problems including low use of mechanization, poor agricultural extension systems, poor road networks, inadequate market information, and lack of access to credit and quality inputs such as fertilizer and seed. In recent times, climate change — which is marked by irregular rainfall patterns and rising temperatures — has made things worse.

•Provide more than a platform: We would offer services needed to offer buyers and sellers utility 

beyond just providing a platform to transact. We would provide farmers and buyers with easy services such as facilitate payments, plan logistics and provide quality control.
• Balance online and offline assets: We are blending technology with offline assets, including delivery vehicles, purpose-built facilities and operational teams.
• Build reliable partnerships: Comrex will provide a wide range of activities through partnerships– from farmer acquisition, education and pre-financing to logistics, marketing and quality control. 
•Replace middlemen services: As well as buying produce from farmers, middlemen offer a range of other services to farmers, including credit and logistics. 

Adapt mobile money services: As we develop, it can become a key driver of mobile money adoption in rural areas. 
• Support farmer operational functions: Some government agencies, especially in the agriculture and rural development spaces, have extensive relationships with farmers. We will leverage on this to help support the operational functions of our businesses, such as farmer 
education.
• Create an enabling regulatory environment: we would discuss with the governments and regulators to help create enabling regulations to drive mobile money adoption among farmers. We would create appropriate strategy that 
would be to introduce tiered KYC requirements that permit easier customer identification and verification for the rural population
•Invest in viable services: we are going to create avenue for Investors and donors to invest in our business that have a differentiated proposition to overcome specific market challenge.

Organization Type:
For-profit

Headquarters:
Kaduna, Nigeria

Stage:
Prototype

Working in:
Nigeria

Employees:
7

Solution Team:
Samuel Yusuf :Chief Technology Officer
Eric Limoh: Chief Operation officer
David Utulor: Chief Executive Officer,

We understand that we must have the right strike team in place to reach our business success. Our team is built with extensive industry experience, strategic foresight, and strong cross-functional capabilities. We have group our team into five, with it skills, uniquely position and responsibilities.
Director of comrex platform: Director of commerce essential skills and core responsibilities:

Orchestrates all aspects of strategic digital platform plans;

Program Manager:Ecommerce program manager essential skills and core responsibilities:

Proven ability to work in a fast-paced and quickly changing environment;

Adapts and prioritizes with agility, using practical multitasking skills;

Manages key stakeholders throughout the lifecycle of a project;

Utilizes excellent communication and presentation skills;

Digital Marketing Manager, Graphic Designer, Copywriter: Content team essential skills and core responsibilities:

Utilizes strong communication skills to create compelling content, highlighting strong attention to detail and exceptional grammar;

Experience with content creation software, such as a content management system (CMS), Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe After Effects;

Experience with marketing automation software, such as HubSpot, Marketo, and ActiveCampaign; 

Business Analyst: Ecommerce business manager essential skills and core responsibilities:

Analyzes, synthesizes, and presents data in a way that is actionable for project stakeholders and executives;

Ecommerce Developer, Software Engineer, IT Manager: Tech team essential skills and core responsibilities:

Develops site architecture, optimizes processes, and supports the brand ecommerce ecosystem;

Experience with PIM, DAM, MDM, and PXM a plus.

Filed provisional patent application, develop a sample prototype. Entrepreneurship networks: Gogettza venture capital, Nigeria Export Promotion Council .

Partnerships: Comrex currently has two groups of partners to enhance the development and the execution of the project: Gogettza Venture capital, Nigeria expo promotion council and a broader agro marketers partnership The Tony Elumelu Foundation, The young African leaders initiative, and Federal University of Technology Minna Niger State Nigeria are piloting the solution and using their capital and resources to support the deployments Organization Goals.

Comrex want to achieve the following goal on lunching it first MVP version: 

 • Generate revenue 

 • build an online  trust and presence with industries and people are proud of. And will gain more attention through recommendation 

 • work with IT to provide a seamless, easy, scalable and highly functional  comrex digital platform 

 • ability to respond in real time to customer needs 

 • develop effective cross-functional support with other partners. Partnership Goals To attain the goal mentioned above, comrex will benefit from the following services mentioned above Mentor and advise product development and strategic planning Support marketing and communications that clearly distribute data Build connections to investors and grantors to progress their fundraising strategy

1. Customer : Farmers, buyers and investors.
Farmers(smallholders, cooperative and large scale farmers). 
Buyers (individual consumers, business (industries) and export).
2. Key resources: Farmers, buyers and investors.
Digital online platform
Algorithms and data analysis.
Brand image
•Skilled staff, architecture, venture capital.
3. Partners and key stakeholders: Farmers, lobbyists and investors
Other Partners – Technology providers( include maps, insurance provider, logistics, transport, payments, and analytics).
4. Key activities: 
Platform (app) development and enhancement
Farmers and buyers engagement
Marketing
•Skilled staff
Sales promotions
Communication with the farmers, buyers, and partners
Customer support
Data analysis
5. Channel: Word of mouth, social media, voucher, digital ads, paid ads, public media coverage and public relations.
6. Value proposition: For the farmers, the value proposition is their ease in getting started, opportunity to earn, ease in accessing more customers without stressing themselves and cutting cost.
For customers, it offers safety and security, the chance to avail services with lower prices than the normal middleman service, it is much more convenient with easier transactions.
•For investors, it gives them opportunity to invest their money and receive dividend at the end.
Comrex platform gives you the opportunity to get market insights, trade and invest on agro produce.
The comrex rating system that allows for feedback.
7.Cost Structure: Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), 
Legal and settlement costs
Insurance costs
Research and development
Lobbying & compliance
Platform building & maintenance
Infrastructure cost
Customer support, and more.

Build partnerships to leverage assets and minimise liabilities: Solve can help our team establish customer base and distribution network, a reputable brand, local market knowledge, relationships with local banks and governments. 

Donors and investors
• Invest in viable services: We can leverage on solve investors and donors to invest in our  businesses which have a differentiated proposition to overcome specific market challenges, such as reducing post-harvest losses. Furthermore, solve giving our team the opportunity to meet with investors will enable us  expand into new markets and attempts to maximise asset utilisation. 

For our business to be successful, we need partnership with mobile operators, organisations that have capabilities in other areas, such as quality check, transport and logistics. Meanwhile, the cost of building our digital platform, along with the associated operational functions, may be much higher when we work alone rather than collaborating with a partner. 

Potential partners could include organizations, MIT faculty or initiatives, or Solve Members. If you have specific names in mind, please list them. How can they help advance your solution? Major organisation I will like to partner with are Transport and logistics companies. To aid movement and fast shipment of agro produce. But I don't have any Transport and logistics companies in mind. Till making research on the company that will be of great benefit. Also mobile services provided to help with management of farmers database.