Sawa Minerals

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities in the developing world are an important supplier to key sectors of the global economy including electronics / ICT, construction and jewelry. They contribute about 80% sapphire, 80% coloured stones, and 30% tin, to the global market.  Despite this they live in extreme poverty due to poor earnings.

Our solution: a digital platform that enables small-scale mining communities in developing countries trade directly with buyers around the world. The name is inspired by the Swahili word “sawa”, which means “all good”.  The platform will utilize data from millions of small-scale miners to digitize the minerals value chain and make it easy to source minerals from these communities.  The platform gives the mining communities access to market opportunities they lack.  It unlocks the true wealth of their minerals through transparency and better payments, thus lifting them from poverty by cutting out exploitative middlemen and warlords.

Artisanal and small-scale mining communities in developing world play critical role in supplying valuable minerals to key sectors of the global economy. 40m people work in ASM, 150m people in 80 countries across the world relying on the industry for livelihood. If ASM community was to stop working, the world would suffer shortage of 80% sapphire, 80% colored-stones, 30% tin, 20% diamond and 15% gold.  But despite this, these communities live in extreme poverty.  They live far from markets and lack resources to access these markets. Desperate without options, they fall in the hands of unfair middlemen who take advantage of the vulnerable communities and force them to accept prices that are tiny fraction of the real worth of the minerals. The minerals also provide a major source of funding for warlords in fueling the violence that has plague the regions. 

At Sawa Minerals, an African-based social enterprise, we believe that the solution to unlocking full potential of the ASM communities is connectivity, using technology to fairly and effectively provide market access for small -scale miners. The raw potential already exists to do this via existing technologies. We just need to do the work, which we have already started.

We are serving the millions of artisanal and small-scale miners in developing countries. According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), 40 million people work as artisanal and small scale miners with 150 million people in 80 countries across the world relying on the industry for livelihood.  This is the community we aim to serve, millions of vulnerable people working hard to supply the world with some of the most sought natural resources. 

In 70% - 80% of these countries, ASM is informal which subjects the miners to unfair trade, which makes it a complicated trade for both buyers and the miners.  In addition, the lack of valuable market information makes the miners vulnerable and exposes them to exploitation. 

We are already working with ASM communities in Kenya. We start by registering them in our platform which maps all the minerals they have. This platform provides a transparent supply chain where minerals can be formerly produced, processed and sold at better prices. In the end, ASMs will get the pay that is fair depending on market prices. In addition, this platform will provide a mechanism through which financiers can appraise ASM activities and advance mining operations.

A digital platform that enables small-scale mining communities in developing countries to trade directly with buyers around the world. This is a transparent platform where individual miners are vetted before onboarding to make sure that only genuine persons are allowed access. The platform also guides the miners to comply with mining laws in their respective countries, effectively making it easy for governments to access taxes and contribute to the national GDP.

All minerals in the platform go through prior thorough grading by approved experts for quality control. With the help of these experts, the miners are able to put the finished product on the platform. The platform will use algorithms to efficiently maintain manage the supply chain operations, including verifying and confirming that the minerals are genuine.

The use of existing technology to introduce a new approach to market access for the artisanal and small scale mining community is what makes our solution innovative. For the first time ever, the ASM community will trade their minerals in a transparent platform with direct access to market opportunities. This is a big contrast to the informal structures which they have always been forced to depend on, which lack transparency and the comfort of direct access to markets.  This innovation puts the power in the hands of the miners as they will be able to determine the price, assisted by transparent market information to help them make decisions.It is unfortunate that while the world continues to enjoy the benefits of the natural resources existing in plenty across developing countries, the small miners who work hard daily to bring them out are impoverished because they get very little from their hard labor. We are bringing a change that will create a new dimension and define the future of how minerals from millions of small scale miners will access markets. 

This transformative solution will give ASMs a platform and an opportunity to compete at the same level with big players in the industry, enabling them to earn enough to give a life of dignity to their families.  It will give the miners the opportunity to access a vast market across the globe.

Our solution utilizes limited memory artificial intelligence and blockchain-backed smart contracts as the core technologies.

Our algorithm is able to learn the characteristics of various transactions with the ability to stop fraudulent transactions.

Smart contracts, on the other hand, enable us to set up secure agreements which can only come to maturity when both ends of the agreement are honored.

Our solution is founded on the principle that big problems affecting millions of people like the ASM community need innovative solutions with the potential to create sustainable impact. The solution takes advantage of existing technology with a promising future. Our activities will result in a direct increase in the incomes of the ASM community. This will impact their lives and lead to a complete transformation that will see them get out of extreme poverty. 

As we scale the platform to onboard more miners in different countries across the developing world,  the communities who rely on the mining industry will have their lives transformed for the better.

Currently serving: 600 in Kenya

One year: 5000 artisanal and small-scale miners year across East Africa in the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Five years: 200, 000 miners across Africa.

Our goal within one year is to serve 5000 artisanal and small-scale miners across East Africa in the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Our goal in 5 years is to reach 200, 000 miners across Africa.

Next 1 year:

Licensing: One of the biggest challenges preventing ASMs from acquiring licenses is the high cost of the mining licenses in their countries. In some countries, ASMs are required to pay as high as $200. 

Competition from informal operators: Since selling on our platform involves a verification process, it could tempt some ASMs to sell to the informal market for quick cash, albeit at lower prices.  

Next 5 years:

High number of miners: As our platform grows in popularity over the  years, we might experience a surge in the number of miners who want to join. This will put a strain on our resources and capacity. 

Skills: As more miners join our platform, we might experience a skills challenge. We’ll need to continuously train all miners in the platform to ensure they are consistently up to date with changing trends.

Licensing: We plan to overcome this barrier by organizing the ASMs into community groups under which they can get one license instead of going for individual licenses. As the platform gains popularity and starts to make profits, we will roll out a financing plan for ASMs who may not be able to get into groups, to get licenses and pay back as they sell their minerals on the platform.

Competition from informal operators: We’ll ensure the miners understand the long term benefits of the platform. We will also partner with financial institutions to advance them money for their most urgent needs. 

High number of miners: We’ll prepare and equip our platform to handle high numbers high numbers by continuously developing to increase capacity to handle potentially millions of users. 

Skills: We’ll overcome the skills gap by implementing a sustainable continuous learning program. We will have digital and on the ground training forums for ASMs to educate them on news skills and trends.

N/A

We have a team of 3 full-time staff, 1 part time staff and 5 contractors. The full-time staff handle the day to day tasks of running the solution. These tasks include on-boarding the artisanal and small scale miners to the platform, finance and administration. The part-time staff is mostly utilized for community outreach programs while contractors are utilized for specialized work.

Our team composition has an excellent mix of experience and skills including software development, mining & mineral processing, digital platforms,artificial intelligence,marketing, project management, monitoring and evaluation, human resource management, accounting, and community service.

Specific expertise includes mining & mineral processing engineering, development, and community development. As we set out to deliver this solution, we will expand out me to include HR personnel, gem cutters, marketers, operations experts with knowledge of financial operations and customer care professionals. This will be a continual process as the business grows.

None at the moment.

Sawa Minerals is a social business:impact first, for-profit. Our key customers are artisanal and small-scale miners, predominantly those based in developing countries. We provide an AI-driven marketing platform for the ASM community at a fee of 4%. This platform provides them access to a global market in a formal and organized manner.

We target to complete core development of the basic platform within 6 months and project to onboard a minimum of 85,000 miners within 18 months. These miners will include a record 1750 gemstone miners from Kenya’s Taita county. Why gemstones? Gemstones are highly sought with thousands of gemstone miners in Kenya whom we can help to quickly tap into existing market opportunities. We, therefore, anticipate that it will take at least 24 months to start having substantial sales revenue through the platform. We’ll definitely need funds to give us sufficient burn rate during this period of development and onboarding until we start to make meaningful revenue. We’ll use a combination of grants and angel funding to sustain our operations. 

A 2018 UK Department for International Development (DFID)  report, through the Research for Evidence Division (RED), estimates $120 million in total annual gemstone sales from Kenya’s Taita county. Basing our projections on this figure, our target is to channel at least 1% of the sales through our platform and collect $1,200,000 in sales revenue within the next 12 months , equivalent to approximately $685 sales revenue per gemstone miner in our platform. Taking this as the minimum assumed revenue per miner and applying the 4% fee across all the 85,000 miners will earn us $2,329,000 gross income by the end of year 3 as a startup business. This will give us reasonable sustainability and be ready to seek the next round of financing for scaling.

(i). Development: We need funds to overcome the development financing barrier especially the cost of developing further the platform and including necessary features to make the platform fully operational at the least minimum level.   

(ii). Onboarding the miners: While our onboarding process is not costly, we’ll consistently need to sensitize and promote the platform in the early days. We are already doing this since the main platform is already deployed. However, we need more resources and assistance to carry out this program because it is a key item of our success.

(iii). Business development: We need the services of an experienced business development mentorship networks to guide us through and ensure we are doing it right. Mining is a complicated industry but with lots of opportunities. With the help of mentorship in this field, we’ll be best positioned to build a thriving social business.

We would like to partner with organizations that rely on minerals imported from Africa and the developing world, organizations working towards streamlining  the ASM industry as well as governments both within and outside Africa.

Sawa Minerals will partner with these organizations to ensure that they have good quality and constant supply of raw material minerals.

These partnerships will also ensure that the ASM communities supplying these raw materials are treated fairly in an eco-friendly environment, therefore, remaining true to the Sawa Minerals mission.

Sawa Minerals platform will be utilising AI to minimise fraud and scale transparency in the mineral industry.We will analyse large amounts of the mineral industry data to print out the characteristics of fraudulent mineral activities.

Armed with this data it will now be easier than before to control fraud in the industry because we will be able to tell it before it happens.

 We’ll utilize the funds for further platform development, sensitization and onboarding of artisanal and small-scale miners across East Africa as well as acquiring key talent including business development and partnerships.

Sawa Minerals is a social enterprise aimed at improving the lives of distressed ASM communities. This in itself is a big social mobility venture that deserves all the support available.

When we win Sawa Minerals will use the prize to:

• Finance the setup and operational costs of the venture’s  community outreach.  

• Offer basic skills training to miners already on boarded to the platform to ensure they understand market requirements on quality and what they need to do to meet the standards. This will build capacity for the production of quality minerals that will be accepted across markets worldwide. 

• Fund community initiatives to ensure sustainable good working conditions in the mining communities; such as sanitation, safety and infrastructure.

Despite women being better stewards of communal resources, they find themselves excluded from mining opportunities and activities. Sawa Minerals is changing this by making easier for women to venture into mining. 

A large percentage of people depending on ASM activities for survival is of women.Therefore it is important we make it easy and favourable for these women to benefit from the mineral industry. Sawa minerals platform will make is easy female ASM miners to access global markets and services by the use of mobile phone technology.

For the first time the small scale miner out in the developing world will be able to sell directly to the buyer and therefore reaping the maximum reward for their hard work.

Sawa minerals will utilise the prize to onboard a large number of female ASM communities. We will also utilise the prize to develop a better system and help the communities gain access to a broader global mineral market.

One of Sawa Minerals main focus is helping distressed artisanal and small scale miner communities across developing world access the global mineral market in a safe and transparent way.

Despite the fact that modern technological advances have  benefited immensely from significant mineral and metal inputs sourced from artisanal and small scale miners,  these mining communities remain marginalised and languish in poverty despite their hard work.

With the Morgridge Family Foundation Community-Driven Innovation Prize Sawa Minerals plans to develop further it’s platform and expand its reach to include more ASM communities across Africa.

Sawa Minerals is bringing transparency to the mining industry and therefore holding everyone accountable for their actions, from governments to corrupt industry players through to the illegal mine owners and child labour perpetrators.

In the Sawa Minerals  world, every player in the supply chain is fairly to foster inclusive economic growth across the developing world.

At present, conflict minerals including Tin, Tantalum and Tungsten which are mined in DR Congo and other East and Central African countries provide major source of funding for warlords in the region, therefore fueling the gun violence that has plagued this mineral-rich region for decades.  How these minerals are sourced will determine whether the wealth from these resources contributes to peaceful, sustainable development or goes towards acquisition of weapons, mainly guns that fuel local wars affecting unarmed civilian population, including women and children.

Sawa Minerals platform is increasing transparency in the mineral supply chains across Africa, and ensuring the mineral resources benefit local communities and stripping of warlords and other exploitative agents a key revenue source for weapons acquisition, and leading to a reduction in gun violence and the thriving of the local communities where these minerals are found.