Smartfarmer System addresses the following critical themes:
- Food security and the ability to predict famine and starvation through our big data analysis.
- Financial inclusion, based on our target audience, primarily dealing with ecosystem owners (governments, agencies, farming communities, contract managers, financiers, insurers, co-ops, associations etc.) to ringfence their interest, providing them access to big data including geo coordinates, digital images, and financial data with embedded finance services.
- Financial literacy, based on our embedded augmented intelligence application, Cash Flow Optimiser for businesses – CFO4b, all on a single universal Platform.
- Supply chain finance, not only by providing a banking solution but also providing funding through NBFC[1]activities. Our platform allows financiers and funders to track how their money is being utilised throughout supply chain processes, not only entities concerned about food security, but also those wishing to empower disadvantaged communities by providing access to global markets.
Information bases and licensing authorities. The application caters to farmers’ needs to improve product yields and accessibility to ready markets by ensuring best practice through access to crucial information, on-the-go.
Our second Platform is an integrated Treasury Platform that covers a comprehensive front, middle and back-office functionality with a rich capability to perform complex financial projections and stress testing.
Smartfarmer Platform
The Smartfarmer Platform has the capability to ringfence various ecosystem owners and links the total value system with a universal platform running on Microsoft Azure. It provides supply chain finance and gives participants access to a digital payment gateway. The Smartfarmer Platform is and will be the fastest growing platform with 350,000 farmers already onboarded in the past 18 months.
The Smartfarmer Platform is marketed to Ecosystem owners as a “Software as a Service” (SaaS) model running on Microsoft Azure. The pricing is based on the number of farmers registered on the Platform @ $100 once-off fee per farmer and a minimum of 1,000 farmers. Riskflow-DBS will also charge a transaction fee for all transactions taking place on the platform. The Smartfarmer Platform is a closed loop system that operates on a wallet basis. Funders can use a voucher system to ensure that funds are used for the intended purpose.
We don’t charge any subscription fee to the end-user (suppliers, transporters or other service providers) for the use of the Smartfarmer Platform. Instead, individuals, businesses and organisations pay us for the following revenue streams:
- advertisements
- e-commerce (transaction fees)
- data sourcing
- other sources of revenue as they become available from time to time.
The $100 per farmer is used on the following basis: 50% is allocated for the on-boarding of the farmer, which entails capturing data regarding the farmer and the activities on the farm as well the farm’s geo coordinates. The other 50% is used to pay for the operation of the Smartfarmer Platform infrastructure.
Riskflow-DBS has access to $300 million for the funding of farmers which will be managed using the Smartfarmer Platform. We are also in the process of concluding more Smartfarmer deals that will increase the number of new farmers to the platform by 300,000.
It is for the deployment of this $300 million that we need a financial partner to guarantee the repayment of this loan. The objective of the funds is to on-lend it to farmers while at the same earning a healthy margin. The conditions would be that the Riskflow-DBS Smartfarmer Platform is used to mitigate the risk associated with the funds.
Riskflow-DBS Ltd is keen to support the Ecosystem owner (governments, agencies, NGOs, farming communities, contract managers, financiers, insurers, co-ops, associations etc.) by providing them with access to funds on the following basis:
- Must use the Smartfarmer Platform
- At a once-off cost of $100 per farmer
- Interest to be charged to the farmer at a mutually agreed price.
- Must use the Smartfarmer loan management module link to the disbursement of money as per the various stages defined.
- Loans and payments on the Platform need to go through a wallet system.
- Yield insurance (via Pula) through Riskflow-DBS preferred suppliers is a pre-condition.
- Disbursements will be done by issuing vouchers to the farmer.
- Support is provided through agents, extension officers or agronomists.
- Riskflow-DBS will charge a transaction fee of 3,0 % on all transactions taking place on the Platform.
Closed loop
In order to create a multiplier effect on all transactions taking place on the Platform, we are creating a wallet system for all participants backed by the total loan deposit into Mybucks in every country you are operating. No cross-border transactions will be allowed in order not to contravene exchange control regulations.
To reduce the leakage of cash, a voucher system is introduced.
Mitigating of risk
Apart from the control that the Smartfarmer Platform provides through technical control and processes, the intention is to limit systemic risk by providing a robust system that depends on the data collected on a regular basis either via satellite images or images captured by extension officer or agronomists. Riskflow-DBS has already contracted with suppliers such as Skudu and Green Excel to assist with providing the correct fertilizer diagnostics to improve yields.
We are looking for a partner that can support us in various African Countries by being the guarantor for funds to be provided to ecosystem owners/farmers. We also need a bank to facilitate the hosting of our e-wallet capabilities per country.
As we have a relationship with you, we would like to know if you could direct or introduce us to the decision-makers who can assist in rolling it out on a global basis.
