The PFMS Platform

Henry Ngale Foretia believes in combining ideas and committing ourselves positively in small groups to change the world and make it a better place for us all. Despite acquiring quality education from prestigious institutions, winning multiple awards and recognized as one of the Brightest Young Minds in Africa, Henry gives all the credits to his beloved mother who offered him some of her savings to help him jumpstart his career after losing almost all of his chicken within as little as one day because of a disease and the vet not arriving in time. To his wife who stood by him with continuous encouragement during the difficult times and his team that quickly engaged with the idea of Putting Disease Detection into the Hands of Poultry Farmers with PFMS Platform. Senior advisor at South West Livestock Farmers Union that assists rural farmers to gain government certification and grow their businesses

Small scale chicken farmers are facing increasing flock mortalities due to diseases, they lack resources to hire farm Veterinarians.
No easy way exists in accessing ready markets and the entire value chain in real-time. These factors cause economic hardship for these champions who contribute to their countries GDP but remain poor despite farming for decades.

PFMS is an affordable, user-friendly platform; build with the 4IR technologies for farmers to Perform on-farm real-time diagnosis of 11 critical animal diseases and receives specified treatment advice.
-Tele-consult Veterinarians anytime with best management updates and vaccine reminders.
-Selling products directly to final consumers and traders, connected to the entire value chain such as feed stores and Veterinary pharmacies

Our platform helps farmers to no more wait for days to access diagnosis and treatment advice, ensures consumers with fit-for-slaughter, traceable and verified livestock’s that provides quality protein source while lifting farmers out of poverty

The overall slowdown in poultry meat and egg production worldwide is due to animal diseases and lack of better technology to improve productivity sustainably, source from FAO https://bit.ly/3gOAJoi  The magnitude of this challenge is as the result of population and income growth which has increased the consumption demand at more than 5% continuous yearly growth rate to only 2% met source The World Bank poultry industry statistic. 

In developing countries, poultry is raised by approximately 80% of rural households who are small scale farmers rearing less than 1000 chickens. The results from a survey on 128 small scale farmers In Cameroon who owns less than 1000 birds showed 80% of the two most common challenges were chicken mortality and access to markets. Having a Veterinarian on the farm does not make economic sense. In other instances, Veterinarians have accidentally carried viruses with them from farm to farm.

Cameroon's current production deficit is 98,000 tons of chickens, equivalent to 24 million birds. Source https://bit.ly/2W6ixyD with over 900,000 farmers of which 80 percent are in small scale production. In summary, small scale chicken farmers challenges are increasing flock mortality rates due to diseases and access to ready markets

An SMS and a mobile app platform that help chicken farmers in three simple steps to perform a disease diagnosis. “The farmer takes photos of the chicken’s feces and the machine intelligence will recognize the disease pathogens + experts who confirm within 30 seconds and the diagnosis goes back to the farmer with more than 95% accuracy.” Right now the app can recognize 11 diseases that are common in poultry, such as salmonella and avian influenza. Farmers can also receive updates on best practices, vaccination reminders, real-time predictions of disease outbreaks near them, and access an on-demand veterinarian through the app. With the rise of COVID19 and other zoonotic diseases, putting diagnostic tools into the hands of farmers is important as we work for a traceable and transparent food system while selling their produce to a ready market is made simple. This accurate user-friendly affordable smart assistant supports farmers in their daily activities.

Madam Sarah, a 38 years old widow with 6 children. With no formal education, she engaged in small scale poultry farming of 200 chickens for survival but constantly having critical mortalities due to diseases and lacks the resources to hire an on-farm veterinarian. After reaching out to our platform, she can now perform on-farm disease diagnosis or consult a veterinarian + selling her products directly to consumers comes with better margins. She produces five times more annually and she can now sponsor her children to school, health care, and food.

Veterinary professional Cedric Yongue sign up on our platform to extend his services to reach the last mile animal farmer in every remote area through the on-demand veterinarian assistance which also increases his revenue.

-Final consumers, supermarkets, hotels and traders who constantly need supplies are happily ordering directly from farmers at a fair price and with confirmation as fit-for-slaughter, traceable and verified.

-Veterinary drug manufacturers who want to reach farmers directly with vaccines and medications should reach out so that we can confirm the drugs details before the advert could reach farmers directly

-It simplifies Vet personnel’s/farmer's pains by quickly detecting infectious disease and linking both farmers and veterinarians to quickly arrest the situation to minimize mortalities. (SDG#17)

 -Our solution increases wealth creation as youths become interested in the industry for its safety. (SDG#1)

 -It constantly updates farmers on best farm management practices, vaccines, and medication reminders. (SDG#4)

 -it bridges the access to the market in real-time, thereby making inclusive trading with rural farmers and urban consumers direct which increases profit margins. (SDG#8)

   -Our technology brings a massive change to the industry and would be rolled out to other countries (SDG#9)

Henry raises chickens and uses the proceeds to care for his family. Arriving his farm one morning, he stood speechless as he stared in disbelief 440 out of 500 of his chickens were dead. As devastating and unbearable as it seems, many poultry farmers in Africa go through this ordeal daily without hopes for a better tomorrow and the vet not arriving in time

Henry was forced to shut down his poultry farm and relocate to another city in search of greener pastures. After 7 months of no job, Henry’s mother offered him some of her savings to help him jumpstart his career. From there he started working in the animal feed business to help sell feed to farmers. Henry noted the difference saying in animal feed, “there are no mortalities or losses” compared to farming.

Part of Henry’s job was to survey local farmers to see what their greatest challenges are. The results of the survey that the two most common challenges amongst poultry farmers were chicken mortality and access to markets.

Moved by the farmers’ plights and deeply touched due to his experience, Henry decided to collaborate with various stakeholders and tech-savvies to develop a solution.

Losing almost all my chickens in only a few hours was the most devastating moment for me. Being the only source of my livelihood (wife and twin daughters) at that time, I stood staring at the dead chickens without hopes for a better tomorrow.

When my mother offered me some of her savings to help me jumpstart my career, I decided to start an animal feed business because it was less risky. The farmers I sell feed to always complain of increasing mortalities and access to a market for their products. I needed to help my customers in solving their challenges.

 After 3 years of success, our local university called and proposed to send interns for professional training. When these interns came, we decided to scale my feed business. We surveyed all the 126 farmers we sell animal feed to. The results of the survey confirm the two most common challenges amongst poultry farmers were chicken mortality and access to markets.

Our team is made up of 4 experienced, dynamic and committed young minds of equal gender in management positions with various backgrounds that truly understand their roles but support each other with effective communication while focusing on the goals and impacts with a vision to help in solving part of the world's developmental problems. 

-Henry Ngale Foretia (Chief Executive Officer) holds a Vet Diploma, MBA (B&E) with 13 years of experience. Expert in Animal feed production and training. Senior advisor at the South West Livestock Farmers Union that assists rural farmers to gain government certification and grow their businesses

-Mambe Churchill (Chief Technology Officer) holds a BSC in Computer science, A Certified Software Development Professional with 10 years of experience. He created njorku.com, an online job search platform rated by Forbes among the best tech startups in Africa. A lecturer at Trustech higher Institute of technology

-Dr. Nkemnyi Bertha Ph.D. in veterinary sciences, A Master's Degree holder in Sales. (Chief Sales Officer) with 16 years of experience. Consulting International NGO's such as ACEFA & Prodel Cameroon, Lectures at the University of Buea, Animal Science department.

-Rose Pelagie, (Chief Marketing Officer) holds a Master in Marketing and Communication with 7 years of experience. The brain behind Jumia E-commerce Cameroon penetration. Her expertise in SEO, Social Media, video content development, Writing ad, and Public Relations makes PFMS have adoption and steady growth

Our attitude has always been the collaboration with openness; this reminds us that, it’s easier to make an impact in our society when we do it together rather than individually. We are not worried about the paycheck because we are confident that someday we will earn better to sustain our families.

In developing our solutions, we faced difficulties in getting data from various sources including universities and labs. However, we overcome these challenges with the help of our team networks.

We are still facing challenges in providing required salaries but we came into an agreement to offer only allowances and reinvest salaries as share capital.

We finally lunch our innovation and are currently receiving recurrent users and positive feedbacks. Our mindset is fixed on the impact we want to bring to our beloved industry.

After training sets of persons in poultry farming, I mandated them to form cooperatives Develop their management organs to better govern themselves. The quest for power became a serious issue.

Part of their task was to report their resolution to me after every meeting session. When I learn of the problem, I attended a meeting session and to my greatest surprise, the issue was not mentioned. 

I assigned all the members to take two weeks to know every person's names. To my greatest surprise, they did not only learn about others' names but also what they do and where they live. They got to know each other too well and could better decide who should be their leader. 

I mandated them to list every person whom they wish to hold different positions, and I started reading the names and positions they intend to occupy. We all wrote it down and came up with the highest names. 

We then affix a date for the election proper and promise them to come along with the delegate of the Ministry of livestock fishery and animal husbandry. On that date, we had a successful election.

No more waiting for days to access diagnosis and treatment advice. Real-time, quick, and affordable solution on one platform. (Do it yourself with your phone)

Our solution help farmers diagnose chickens on the spot by taking a photo of feces, based on machine learning and AI, recognizes the disease pathogens + experts who confirm and respond within 30 seconds with more than 95% accuracy. They can also use the Veterinarian On-demand assistance for consultation with sales made simple.

Our Business models are

-Monthly subscription fee
-Pay-As-You-Go for Vets On-demand assistance 50% share
-% commission per SMS ads 

Our Revenue streams;
-We take just a $1 Monthly subscription fee on each user via Airtime Billing
-Vet On-demand assistance of $2 via Airtime Billing /Mobile Money
-We take a 65% commission per SMS ads Via Mobile Money

Monthly unit economics per user and customer acquisition cost = $0.675
Average monthly revenue per user = $1

We currently have mentor and investor needs for our company that already exists, and The Elevate Prize happens to fit that need because it bridges the gap between us, mentors, investors, and the prize.

Despite accomplishing, we believe The Elevate Prize will help us reach our goals faster and better 

 We plan to work hard and take advantage of being part of an elite group by harnessing all great resources that The Elevate Prize has to offer while building the next unicorn venture on the planet and making millions of people's lives better.