PaySwap

In Africa, a significant challenge faces 175 million smallholder farmers who struggle to access credit due to their lack of digital financial histories and collateral to secure loans. This issue is compounded by the difficulty lenders face in verifying customers, particularly in remote areas where formal identification is scarce. Even in more developed countries with centralized records, poor data quality necessitates costly verification processes, often outweighing potential revenues.

Furthermore, these farmers encounter obstacles in obtaining fair prices for their crops, as middlemen typically claim a disproportionate share of profits. This imbalance affects buyers as well, who struggle with inconsistent supplies and limited visibility into crop delivery locations. Consequently, farmers find themselves caught in a cycle of poverty, unable to enhance crop yields due to cash flow constraints and receiving inadequate returns for their produce. Additionally, in certain nations, subpar crop quality hinders access to lucrative export markets and better prices.

Efforts by governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to assist rural communities in adopting more efficient farming practices and accessing agricultural inputs are hindered by complex distribution networks and widespread corruption. Even voucher programs aimed at providing assistance can incur high administrative costs that overshadow the benefits they provide.

PaySwap offers a suite of products designed to empower farmers by providing them with access to credit, better agricultural inputs, and fairer prices for their crops. 

One such product is ValuePool, which allows farmers to establish an alternative credit score by participating in tontines—a common savings mechanism in many African countries. ValuePool ensures a safer and more transparent way for farmers to engage in tontines by recording every transaction on the blockchain. These transactions are then used by auditors to generate an alternative credit score for participating farmers. As farmers' credit scores increase, they gain access to tontines with higher cotization fees, further enhancing their creditworthiness. Additionally, ValuePool offers companies the opportunity to advertise their services to farmers within the tontines in exchange for a fee paid to the tontine.

Once farmers' credit scores reach a certain threshold, they can apply for loans through Stakemarket, another PaySwap product. These loans are provided either by PaySwap or by individuals worldwide who trust farmers with proven track records in tontines. 

The CanCan marketplace enables farmers to sell their crops directly to end users without intermediaries, ensuring fairer prices. Additionally, CanCan allows suppliers to list agricultural inputs they plan to sell to farmers, and governments or NGOs can also utilize the platform to reach farmers.

To ensure accessibility and affordability, the platform is available in multiple languages, and smart contracts are deployed on the Fantom blockchain, minimizing transaction costs.

As we expand our services into rural and agricultural communities in Togo and Ghana, with plans to reach even more African countries, our mission is to connect with up to 30% of sub-Saharan Africa's 175 million smallholder farmers and their surrounding commercial networks.

Our focus is on serving smallholder farmers and their entire ecosystem, which includes buyers, merchants, financial institutions, sprayers, processors, and others. We also collaborate closely with NGOs committed to promoting sustainable agricultural practices, carbon neutrality, higher-quality produce, and overall prosperity within these communities.

It's important to note that a significant portion of our target demographic faces literacy challenges, and most lack access to traditional financial services. However, mobile device ownership varies widely across countries, ranging from less than 50% to nearly 100%.

Through our expansion initiatives, we aim to bridge these gaps by providing accessible and inclusive financial solutions that empower smallholder farmers and improve the sustainability and profitability of their agricultural activities.

Africa's agricultural sector is experiencing growth at a rate of 2.7% annually. The potential within this sector is immense, as implementing improved crop practices has been shown to result in threefold better yields. Despite this potential, 70% of Africa's arable land remains unused, and the continent currently relies on food imports. Therefore, enhancing prosperity among smallholder farmers not only contributes to better domestic health and nutrition outcomes but also unlocks significant export potential, which will be crucial as the global population continues to grow.

Our solution has a particularly positive impact on women farmers, who often face barriers such as lack of property rights, limited access to technology, and educational opportunities. We recognize the pivotal role that women play in their communities and acknowledge their potential to drive positive change. By providing them with a digital history, both individually and at a community level, we aim to level the playing field for their access to credit and create opportunities for property ownership through improved yields and higher incomes. 

Our digital wallets, accessible through community or merchant devices, allow women to store and grow their assets independently, reducing the risk of coercion from family members seeking access to their resources. Moreover, female ownership of thriving businesses enhances their social status and promotes acceptance of female leadership, resulting in better outcomes for women and girls overall. As their wealth grows, women are better equipped to overcome the digital divide and gain access to technology, literacy, and finance.

As children of smallholder farmers from both Ghana and Togo, we have an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Our upbringing has instilled in us a deep motivation to contribute, however small, to improving the lives of these farmers.

On a technical level, my co-founder brings a wealth of experience in developing web and mobile applications, while I specialize in writing smart contracts on EVM-compatible blockchains.

We've already begun piloting our project with a select group of farmers, and their feedback has been invaluable in shaping various aspects of our application. Their input has been instrumental in ensuring that our solution is tailored to meet the unique needs of smallholder farmers in our communities.

We've already begun piloting our project with a select group of farmers, and their feedback has been invaluable in shaping various aspects of our application. Their input has been instrumental in ensuring that our solution is tailored to meet the unique needs of smallholder farmers in our communities.

We are facing barriers in distributing our solution to a wider population of smallholder farmers. This is a very important barrier to pass since just like with any other social venture, the more users participate, the more our solution can be useful to any individual farmer.

We also need help partnering with suppliers of agricultural inputs, NGOs and governments in order to help our farmers even further.

Our comprehensive approach to digitizing community finance in Africa integrates blockchain technology to tackle the core weaknesses in agricultural economic structures. Instead of merely providing financial access, we recognize the broader context of market development and prioritize bridging the digital divide, particularly for women. Through blockchain and our innovative valuepool smart contracts, we leverage real-time data from farmers' tontines to generate alternative credit scores, enabling access to loans.

Key differentiators include:

1. Accessible accounts without the need for a mobile device, ensuring inclusion of millions of African women and others without phone access.
2. Secure blockchain-based wallets allow customers to store assets without relying on mobile money providers or banks.
3. Holistic market development ensures that customers' business activities directly contribute to accessing business growth capital.
4. Direct market access via the CanCan marketplace enables buyers worldwide to purchase crops directly from farmers, enhancing financial data transparency and trust.
5. Elimination of corruption and wastage through direct delivery of vouchers from NGOs and governments to farmers via the CanCan marketplace, facilitated by blockchain technology.
6. Real-time data insights and a transparent credit score system provide lenders, NGOs, and governments with trustless and transparent information.
7. Farmers can access cash flow through loans using their newly established credit score.

3 full time:

Tetevi Ekon: Senior Blockchain Engineer

Denyo Ekon: Google Developer

Sandra Ekon: Sociologist

4 months

B2B2C: we provide our services to farmers (which are businesses) who in turn provide their services to users