ISource

ISource will employ virtual tools to help connect agricultural producer organizations to financiers and buyers in a “one-stop shop".  This will help to match relevant resources to the changing capacity needs of agricultural producer organizations so they are provided the support they need to grow into high impact firms. Services will include collecting both quantitative and qualitative evidence to develop a pipeline of business cases for strategic linkage development; conducting both online and offline surveys to identify financiers and buyers for partnering with agricultural producer organizations; assessing specific needs of agricultural producer organizations and preparing them for strategic linkage plan development; and collecting performance data and feedback from the entire ISource users for learning and making both strategic and tactical changes to the established strategic linkage plans.

Agriculture is the main source of income in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, no proper coherent interventions have been assembled properly in their right dimensions to have the sector operationalized to become fully effective. There are certain specific capacities needed for Agriculture to take root including resource creating, capacity to assess market opportunity; and commercialization. Getting financing that small-scale agricultural producers need to lift their individual ventures off the ground is another challenge. This is with regards to who might be the right financier at the critical time of starting the production process. Yet prospective venture capitalists struggle to find good deals. This derails them to take a cautious approach to investment. As a result, many small-scale agricultural producers do not have access to the right startup capital. Detecting possible market demand is equally important, meaning there is need to know how produce does “flow” through the agricultural marketing system including who specifically is buying the agricultural product or service. Unfortunately, small-scale producers just produce and “hope” that someone will buy their product over another supplier. Therefore, there is need to create an efficient and effective discussion forum for producers, financiers and buyers to start developing sustainable strategic business relationships.

ISource is a resource matching digital platform that will employ virtual tools to connect agricultural producer organizations to investors and buyers in a “one-stop shop".  ISource will deliver multiple business development services including:

• Collecting both quantitative and qualitative evidence in order to understand how agricultural producer organizations operate and develop the business case for either linking or not linking them to financiers and buyers. 
• Conducting both online and offline market surveys to identify potential financiers and buyers that can be attracted to build long-term relationships with selected small-scale agricultural producer organizations
• Assessing specific needs of selected agricultural producer organizations upfront and then offering them three months of intense training and mentorship to develop tripartite strategic linkage plans with prospective financiers and buyers and reassessing and updating the plans on an ongoing basis
• Collecting performance data and feedback from the entire users of ISource in a variety of ways and using the information to learn and make both strategic and tactical changes to established tripartite strategic linkage development plans

ISource will match relevant resources to the changing capacity needs of small-scale agricultural producer organizations so they are provided the support they need to grow into high impact firms.

Agriculture is amongst the world’s largest sectors, employing over one billion people and accounting for 3% of global GDP. However, there are about 500 million smallholder agricultural producers in the world. These produce up to 80% of the food consumed in Africa and Asia. Yet the potential of the agriculture sector is not fully exploited to solve the outstanding global challenges including unemployment and poverty respectively. Most small-scale agricultural producers live on less than $1. These categories of people lack assets, information and access to business development services including seed capital. This hinders their participation in potentially lucrative markets. As a result, they receive low prices for their products which impacts negatively on their level of income and general family wellbeing. In the recent past, Uganda Cooperative Alliance has come up with an innovative idea of grouping together approximately 10 primary agricultural producer organizations into an Area Cooperative Enterprise (ACE). Working with Uganda Cooperative Alliance to digitalize most of the ACE operations as well as assist to link them to potential financiers and markets is the right way going forward. This will give the small-scale agricultural producers the power to employ themselves productively and break the vicious circle of poverty.

Small-agricultural producers in Africa find it challenging to participate in the modern economy. Most of these farmers have limited access to credit and to markets in which to sell their produce. ISource is the right technology-based solution that is going to help resolve the existing resource mismatch, and to spur good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurial opportunities. Indeed, ISource will help small-scale producer organizations to access the necessary support they need to grow into high impact firms. In turn, this will enable them to weather economic shocks, prosper, and create good jobs through access to capital, markets, and technology.

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