Seekewa

Seekewa is the 1st crowdfunding platform that allows people and organizations to directly support smallholder farmers in Africa in exchange of special discounts on the food produced. Through a strong network of partners and a proprietary technology, Seekewa evaluates agricultural projects in subsistance farming, finds the financing, assists the farmers during execution, helps to increase yields and efficiently harvest, provides marketing support in a very transparent and secure way. No more useless intermediaries, Seekewa effectively reconnects the farmer to the end consumers by providing trust, transparency and real value at all levels.

In 2019, there are nearly 50 millions of smallholder farmers in Africa. These, although providing up to 80% of the continent’s food, are living with less than $2 a day and are among the poorest and most vulnerable populations in the world. This is unacceptable. 

There are many causes: 1. Difficulty in accessing efficient financing: only 2% of African smallholder farmers that have access to direct loans  2. Post-harvest losses: about 40% of crops in sub-Saharan Africa are lost before they can be sold 3. Gender inequality: only 10% of rural women in Africa have access to land and credit 4. Financial exclusion: only 17% of the rural population in Africa that has access to mobile payment 

In addition, there are poor yields due to limited access to quality resources (certified inputs, mechanization, technological solutions) at affordable prices and the lack of adequate technical training.

Seekewa is committed to transforming African small farmers into successful entrepreneurs by raising funds on their behalf and then providing them with tools, inputs, training, assistance and business support. Beyond that, our mission is to improve the livelihoods of people in rural areas with concrete actions in domains such as food security, health, financial inclusion. 

Seekewa pays particular attention to gender equality with at least 70% of projects carried out by women and to the promotion of youth refits employment with at least 50% of projects carried out by 18-35.

Seekewa detects projects in subsistence farming from cooperatives, giving priority to women and youth. After thorough analysis, the most profitable ones are published our platform. Contributors can then buy vouchers valued in points, distribute them on their favourite projects and track their progress online. With the money collected Seekewa buys all the required resources and delivers them to the farmers. Seekewa assists the farmers throughout the execution and sells the production on its behalf. 

As members of the community, Seekewa contributors benefit from special discounts on Seekewa food that can be delivered to their homes or workplaces.

Once the project is completed, Seekewa returns all their profits to the farmers via mobile money, reimburses all contributors in points and the cycle can start again.

Seekewa reinvents the classic crowdfunding model by combining it with an e-voucher. This innovative approach makes it possible to provide to our farmers all the resources (goods and services) directly by credit instead of lending money to acquire them. This eliminates the risk of wasting money and increases the chances of success of projects. Thus, no financial contribution or guarantee is required from them.