father had been a small scale farmer for more than two decades. Adeti had seen how market inefficiencies and price fluctuations affected his business. These factors, she says, have a devastating impact on the livelihoods and food security for smallholder farmers.
After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications and Information Engineering at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Adeti and her two partners, Isaac Wachira and Ivan Otieno, came up with the idea to create a firm that links farmers to financial markets.
The three met in 2021 at the Jasiri Talent Investor Programme in Rwanda which they were part of for a year.
“We were particularly struck by the fact that over 250 million smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to market their produce and manage price risk effectively, leading to a decline in their working capital and threatening their livelihoods and food security. We felt that something needed to be done to help the farmers secure better prices for their produce and protect their working capital,” she says.
Through extensive research and consultation, the trio identified the key challenges faced by smallholder farmer in managing price risk and accessing better markets.
“This led us to formalising Radava as a comprehensive solution that directly addressed these challenges by providing smallholder farmers with access to well-equipped warehouses, collateral-based loans and a commodity exchange platform,”Adeti says.
Through these, Radava helps alleviate poverty, increases food security and promotes economic growth through agriculture.
“We enable smallholder farmers who deal with grains and cereals to access well-equipped warehouses where they can safely store their produce until it fetches a better price in the market and in that way, prevent post-harvest losses,” says Adeti.
The business also enables the farmers to use their agricultural produce as collateral for accessing loans from lending institutions. It also connects the farmers to good markets for their produce.
“We have a product that is double-sided: a warehousing solution that links to an online commodity exchange market. This exchange is like the stock market. But instead of trading and investing in shares, you trade and invest in agricultural commodities. In the process, you connect farmers to the global marketplace,” she adds.
From left: Isaac Wachira, Ivan Otieno and Josephine Adeti.They are co-founders of Radava Mercantile Company that helps small-scale farmers avoid post harvest losses.
Photo credit: Pool
The process begins with farmers bringing their cereals to the warehouse, and they are issued with a blockchain-backed electronic receipt.
This receipt is tradable on the Radava Mercantile Exchange platform and can also serve as collateral for credit acquisition.
“More importantly, through our PricePlow system, we provide farmers with uptodate market price information both offline and online and in both English and Swahili,” she says.
The company has so far served more than 1,022 smallholder farmers in Kenya and transacted more than 540 tonnes of cereals on the platform.
“I’mmotivated by the fact that our business, Radava Mercantile, is making a massive impact for people in the agricultural value chain, beginning with smallholder farmers,” says Adeti.
They charge five percent transaction fees on every commodity handled on the platform and a 10 percent mark-up cost on those who buy grains and cereals in large quantities.
During the period they have been in business, Adeti says she has learnt that business plans change -- the idea one starts with is not necessarily the same as the one the company will grow to become.
“This is a good thing because it shows you are walking hand-in-hand with your customers and iterating to address the problem they really want solved. I have also learnt that doing business with a co-founder is much better than doing it alone,” she says.
She, however, notes that a good co-founder omplements one's skill sets.
Adeti also emphasises the importance of being part of a strong entrepreneurial community with whoich you can share your journey and frustrations with, and get advice to keep you going during the low seasons.
“We hope to facilitate cross-border trade of agricultural commodities and serve 500,000 smallholder farmers all over Africa,” she says.
