The Future of Farming: Using Tech, Finance, and Human Networks To Connect African Farmers to Global Markets with Desmond Koney

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa Podcast.

[00:00:30] We are looking to go into Cote d'Ivoire in Senegal in the coming year to give us a lot more variety meeting some of the demands we have on the platform. Stay tuned as we bring you inspiring people who are unlocking Africa's economic potential. You're listening to the Unlocking Africa Podcast with your host, Terser Adamu.

[00:00:55] Welcome to the Unlocking Africa Podcast where we find inspirational people who are doing inspirational things to unlock Africa's economic potential. Today, we have Desmond Kone, who is CEO and founder at Complete Pharma, a Ghanaian tech company which empowers African farmers to conduct their work in a much more sustainable and profitable way.

[00:01:22] Welcome, welcome, welcome to the podcast Desmond. How are you? I'm good, Terser. I'm good. I'm good. I'm happy to be here and my regards to all your listeners out there. Fantastic. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. As always, I like to get started and get straight in. So I was hoping you could give us a introduction into who Desmond Kone is.

[00:01:46] Yeah. So I started as a mechanical engineer. My dad was a pineapple farmer, a smallholder pineapple farmer. And I really saw like the hassle when it comes to farming. So I decided not to pursue that route. I studied how to become a mechanical engineer and I think did quite well.

[00:02:07] As a mechanical engineer, I specialized in production engineering. So building factories, building conveyor belt systems and really the manufacturing part of engineering. And I think it gave me the opportunity to build some products in China. And I think through that experience, I really saw what manufacturing was in China.

[00:02:29] At the time, Alibaba was on the rise and you'd see people converting their garages into factories. And then unfortunately, my dad passed away. Sorry. And I inherited his farm. He passed over the farm to me. And I remember at a time when I got, I got hold of the farm. I was like, how do I do this?

[00:02:50] And I think my experience from Alibaba working in manufacturing in those days, I started to say like, if I take his farm and make it work like a factory, I'm sure I probably could manage it better. And so that's where really the idea for Complete Farmer came. And that was my introduction into agriculture when I got the inheritance of my dad's farm, pineapple farm.

[00:03:15] And so I think when you look at what Alibaba had done for manufacturing in China, where even like you see people using garages for some small scale manufacturing and shipping to the rest of the world. I thought that was a model you could replicate. And the best place to replicate that for agriculture was in Africa. Where you have small holder farmers or small size production. And factories are basically like farms.

[00:03:41] All the resources come to the sites and the products leave from that site. So if we could make that work, then we could probably build an Alibaba for African agriculture. And that was the pursuit that led me to starting Complete Farmer. And yeah, that's a bit about my background. So from mechanical engineer to reluctant farmer.

[00:04:05] So could you give us, I guess, an overview of Complete Farmer in terms of its core mission in transforming African agriculture? Yeah, so we started Complete Farmer. We very much stuck to the mission of making sure that the entire supply chain of agriculture is more robust and is able to feed the demand of the world. You hear a lot of people say, oh, Africa is the breadbasket of the world.

[00:04:34] Africa has the most arable lands. And the vision for Complete Farmer is to be the vehicle that realizes that vision for Africa. As things stand now, it's very difficult for a farmer to buy themselves exports products everywhere. And so the challenge you hear farmers mostly faces, oh, we want markets for our produce. We are not getting competitive markets.

[00:05:02] And that creates a ripple effect in terms of the problems these farmers have. So because they are not able to get a premium market, they don't get enough income. Because they are not able to get enough income, they can't invest in their farms. Because they can't invest in their farms, their farm productivity is also low. And that's basically the state of agriculture in most places in Africa is this ripple effect of one problem cascading into another.

[00:05:31] And when you speak to like the big food buyers in this world, they always tell you, look, we are always looking for food. We are always looking for where we can buy these crops. But somehow they never try to source from Africa. And the main reason we found out is it's really a big supply chain problem. There is really no visibility between the demand and supply in that regard.

[00:05:54] So the vision of Complete Farmer is really to build that vehicle that really connects this demand to supply. And in doing that also, we want to be able to help the farmers know and do what it takes to be able to meet that demand. So for the kind of buyers we are looking at, and one of the reasons we realize why African farmers are not able to sell to this premium market is mainly because of quality.

[00:06:25] Farmers in Africa grow like, oh, it's food. Everyone is going to buy at the end of the day. So let me just put the seed in the soil and do my growing. And what we find out is for the big food buyers, there are certain quality specifications that they have that these farmers do not even know about or even know how to meet. So, for example, if a big company, an FMCG, is looking for soybean to produce baby food, there is certain protein content.

[00:06:54] There are certain characteristics of that soybean they look out for so that they can have consistency in their products that they sell on the market. Most of our farmers may know how to grow soybeans, but may not know how to meet some of these specifications. And that's really the work that Complete Farmer does in making sure that we can become that vehicle to bridging the demand and supply of the world. And in not just doing that, we also have to build some fiscal infrastructure.

[00:07:22] One of the reasons farmers are not able to meet this market requirement is because of the lack of things like post-tarvest processing infrastructure in their local communities. And that's an investment that we also make to enable, realize their vision. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. You touched on the demand and supply and also the infrastructure.

[00:07:44] So, if we look at the supply of local markets, how do you see the role of agritech companies such as Complete Farmer in addressing food security within the region? I think agritechs play a very big role. So, as we have it now in Africa mostly, when it comes to food production or primary production of agricultural produce, everything is happening in silos.

[00:08:12] You know, so, for instance, a farmer sits somewhere in his village, but there's an improved seed variety in the city he doesn't know about. There could be some connections that agritechs bridge these gaps to make sure that we have a stronger value chain. Farmers, even by themselves, are mostly smallholder farmers in Africa.

[00:08:34] In the sense that in Africa, because of our land-tenner system, everyone in their family needs to own a piece or a portion of their land to be able to grow something. Right. So, that has created this smallholder farming system and then obviously working capital for farmers. So, there are a lot of unique opportunities along the value chain that I think agritech with their technology can fill the gap.

[00:09:01] But I wouldn't want to say, okay, it's not just agritech in the SaaS sense of it. There's also real infrastructure that needs to be built. With some of the farmers we work with, when you tell a farmer apply fertilizer or five grams of fertilizer, mix it this way. Sometimes they really need the tools to be able to do that.

[00:09:22] If you tell them, space your plants five centimeters or 15 centimeters apart, they don't have the tools to be able to guarantee that it's exactly 15 centimeters. Right. So, there is some combination of like hardware that needs to be built or hard infrastructure that needs to be built to strengthen the value chain. And I think these are opportunities for agritechs in the space. And I think data is now keen.

[00:09:49] Just knowing the price of the markets of what I'm going to grow. If I'm growing something now, it's May now, that may probably be ready in September. I need to know what the market prices will be in September and how I manage my costs now. So that when it's September, I'm also ready to capitalize on the market then. And so, some of those decisions are really data decisions.

[00:10:17] And this takes into consideration like the weather forecasting system, the soil conditions, what crop to grow, what the market is looking for. Finding ways to give those type of insights to farmers to make the right decision coupled with a robust supply chain for the agricultural value chain. It's a big role that I think architects across the continent can solve for as well.

[00:10:42] You touched on the point that when it comes to farming within Africa, a lot of things happen in silos. So, what role do you think technology, specifically AI and data-driven insights, can help in breaking those silos? I think there's been a lot of talk about generative AI in many industries. But I think particularly for agriculture, the role I see AI playing is being able to...

[00:11:12] AI has the ability to read different data sources and summarize that to you, right? And so, being able to get insights from different data sources and being more of a reader and being able to read copious amounts of data and being able to let the user know, okay, based on the data and based on what we've seen, this is what you need to do. And I think decision-making in the agricultural value chain is very critical.

[00:11:39] And not just for the value chain, but even for policymakers. If every country should know how much production, what the weather forecast for that particular year is going to have on its GDP based on the agricultural outputs from that country. These are decisions that I think AI plays a big role in helping policymakers make the right policies for farmers as well. So, I think AI does play a big role when it comes to decision-making on the farm and off the farm.

[00:12:10] Another example I could give is when you try shipping pineapple to Europe, for example, the fruit pineapple only gets sweet as it's attached to the parent plant. Once you cut it from the parent plant, it stops sweetening and starts ripening. So, how do you get a farmer to know when is the right time to harvest their pineapple if it's going to London versus when to harvest if it's going to China, right?

[00:12:37] So, those are decisions that I think AI really plays a big role in supporting farmers to be able to make the right decisions to grow sustainably. Making these decisions require reading a lot of data, a lot of data sets to be able to guide these farmers. And that's really what we are building a complete farmer is to not just look at the agricultural sector as what's happening on the farm,

[00:13:03] but what's happening with all the macro factors that affect the production of a smallholder farmer. So, there are many examples that I could give on the role of AI. I think one of the important roles we've also seen is translations and localization. So, and what I mean by this is that tell a farmer to grow food in a certain way. Usually, they'll ask you why. We've been doing this for a long time.

[00:13:30] Why do we need to change the way we are producing? And when you tell them, look, it's for the benefit of their planet, it's sometimes a difficult sell, right? So, and the work that we do, how do we translate some of the sustainable practices in ways that farmers can grow these crops and follow these practices without necessarily changing the investment they need to make in their farms?

[00:13:59] And so, you would see solutions like language translations so that farmers get advice in their local language. But it also goes well beyond that. There are also solutions where on how we can measure the risk of what a farmer's production is and know what the best insurance the farmer needs to take given their local parameters and what's happening in their locality.

[00:14:23] So, I think AI in future plays a big role to solving some of these fundamental challenges that African farmers face. And it's really exciting time to be in the space to be exploring these solutions with Complete Farmer. So, are all of these examples and services that you've described, what is available via the Complete Farmer CF Grower platform?

[00:14:47] Yes. So, a lot of these solutions that we are providing to farmers and a lot of these are also solutions on our roadmap that we are currently building. We invest a lot in R&D. One of the good things with Complete Farmer and how we are set up is we also are in the communities with the farmers. We build our fulfillment centers in these communities. Farmers can come there and learn.

[00:15:13] We have demo fields where we are not just collecting data, but we are also training farmers on some of these best practices and they can see for themselves. So, I think these are mostly solutions that we are looking to introduce to farmer demographics across West Africa currently.

[00:15:31] So, if we can speak to the grower platform in terms of how specifically does the platform help farmers increase their yield or profitability through the platform? Yeah. So, just to walk you through the platform, right, and some of the things I've mentioned, the platform is a demand-driven platform.

[00:15:53] So, from the moment they are onboarded, they are able to profile their soil using satellite imagery and be able to recommend what is the most optimum crop for that particular land and the location you are. And we also look at the weather forecast because different crops require different weather parameters, different amounts of sunlight, different amounts of rainfall.

[00:16:17] To make that recommendation to the farmer to say this, for where your land is located and what the prevailing weather conditions will be in the next few months, these are the best crop options to grow. Now, once we've done that, we also then match them to real demands. So, on the platform, it's a marketplace platform. So, we have demand from buyers across the globe that we match to these farmers.

[00:16:41] So, we then match the demand to farmers who have the capability or the profile to be able to meet the demand for these farmers. So, before any farmer starts growing on the grower platform, they will know what their land can support and what markets they are going to sell to. And they will also know what quality that market expects. Once we do this matching, we then would also give them what we call our agronomic protocols.

[00:17:09] So, this is the everyday step-by-step information that the farmer needs to follow to be able to grow precisely to meet the quality specifications of these buyers. We currently have these protocols for 10 crops. So, the platform currently is able to support 10 crops. And we still are doing more research into other crops. But once we give them this protocol, they also have agents on the ground that can support them.

[00:17:37] If they have questions, if they have issues, that provide real-time guidance. They could also come to the fulfillment center to ask questions about the protocols, speak to our field agronomists if they have some requests or support that they need. Once we do this, based on the protocol, we can also recommend what inputs they need.

[00:18:00] And also, we built our storefront product, which really helps the farmers get the inputs in their vicinity. It gets delivered to their farm. I think usually, farmers will start the season and you hear there are fertilizer shortages or we are not finding the right seed for our farms. On the complete farmer platform, as a grower, once you receive your protocols, you can search for all your inputs and it gets to your farm before you need to apply it.

[00:18:29] So, it shouldn't get there later because also the timing of when you apply your fertilizer determines a lot in the success of your farm. So, they are able to do all this on the grower platform. Should they see things like an infection on one of the plants, they can just take a picture and they can get a diagnosis on what is wrong with the plant and what to do. So, we provide very close support to farmers through our platform.

[00:18:58] At the end of the production, they can bring their commodities to the fulfillment center and that's where they get paid by the buyer that they've been matched with. So, that's really what the grower platform provides. It provides this hands-on supervision and guidance in every decision the farmer needs to make along the farming journey to ensure that they are able to meet what the market requires and make sure that they are successful in selling to premium markets.

[00:19:28] So, you touched on the support that you provide in terms of helping farmers with sustainable practices in farming. What else is provided to ensure that there's transparency and traceability in the agriculture supply chain? So, the platform provides full transparency for both buyers and for farmers.

[00:19:49] So, whilst the farmers are doing their production, buyers get every data point that is being recorded by the farmer. So, buyers see what fertilizer the farmer used, when they purchased the fertilizer, when they applied it, how they applied it. All that data is available to buyers of our commodity on the platform. So, there's full transparency. And we also provide this transparency to our banking partners and insurance partners.

[00:20:19] So, on the platform, farmers are able to get insurance for their farms. We've currently started exploring lending to farmers for them to be able to secure their inputs and stuff. And the banks we work with also need this data to ensure that the funding they are giving to these farmers is being utilized for what the request was for.

[00:20:40] So, insurance companies need this data to see and be able to measure the risks that the farmer is managing and mitigating on their farms as well. So, the platform provides this full transparency to all these stakeholders. And also for us to be able to start our QA, our quality assurance process starts from the farm. Not where we get the goods from at our fulfillment center.

[00:21:05] Because oftentimes, you need to know whether the farmer is over-applying pesticides and if that is going to be harmful to the end product. So, it helps us start quality assurance also during the production process, which is one great thing about being able to do this on a digital platform. I guess it's safe to say that transparency is essential when trying to sell to global markets.

[00:21:33] So, can you explain the process of connecting farmers to global markets via the Complete Farmer platform? So, yeah, I think one of the biggest value prop for our buyers is usually when buyers, and the reason why you don't see a lot of buyers buying directly from African farmers is the cost at the end of the day becomes very prohibitive for them because if they don't have a reliable supply chain to rely on,

[00:22:00] or if they don't find a middleman, and that's why you see a lot of middlemen in the agricultural value chain in Africa, then building that or doing that backward integration becomes very expensive for most of these buyers. And so, they really come to the platform to look for alternative ways to source. One of the things we are seeing on the platform today is based on the tariff situation between the U.S. and China,

[00:22:28] a lot of Chinese buyers are looking for new places to source soybeans, and we see this demand on the platform. And once we see something, the demand on the platform, we need to check to see if we do have farmers on the platform with their capability, meaning they have their land, and the land is located in a place where it has favorable weather conditions to grow to meet their specification.

[00:22:56] Once we have that, we can make a match on the platform. So, that's basically what we do. And we do this both in Ghana, Togo. We are looking to go into Cote d'Ivoire in Senegal in the coming year to give us a lot more variety in terms of meeting some of the demands we have on the platform. So, at the other end, in terms of enabling the farmers to access global markets,

[00:23:24] how do you actually collaborate at the other end with food companies to help streamline sourcing and also improve supply chain efficiencies? So, you know, many of these buyers we have, these FMCGs, food processors, are very interested in strengthening their supply chain. I think one thing that has been a very big blocker for them or bottleneck for them is their lack of traceability.

[00:23:51] They really need to know which farmer really produced this crop that I'm using for my production. And what we are seeing is a lot of them are looking for ways to see how they can help those farmers to ensure that they, as an FMCG or as a food producer or a processor, have their raw materials secured. And so, a lot of them are using their corporate social responsibility budget to figure out how do we provide tractors to these farmers?

[00:24:19] How do we provide them irrigation as well? And the Complete Farmer Platform, because of this traceability feature that we have, we are able to make these connections. So, if there is a buyer that is looking to support farmers in his supply chain to ensure that they can grow more competitively, they are able to do that. We've had buyers looking to help the farmers that they procure from on the platform to be able to get, like, certifications,

[00:24:49] which would basically help their own offtake as well. So, I think there's a lot of connections that can be made in the value chain if we are able to allow that transparency and a lot of work can be done in strengthening the supply chain as well. So, there's also the role that the government needs to play in all of these interventions that we are seeing on the platform. We still need good roads. I think if we can find good roads to where the food is grown,

[00:25:19] or if the government can build good roads to wherever farmers are located, that solves a big part of the problem. And also, internet connectivity is one of the challenges. And those are the problems that I think are yet to be solved in the value chain to enable us, make the African farmers more competitive. Because all these digital solutions would require some level of connectivity. There are places in Africa where you don't get any network reception on your phone.

[00:25:48] And I think those infrastructure issues, if resolved, would help the value chain to resolve some of its own problems. When it comes to irrigation, when it comes to mechanisation of farms, when it comes to certification of farms, these are ways that I think the value chain should be able to take care of itself if this infrastructure should be built. So, if we look at the complete opposite end of the supply chain,

[00:26:15] what has been the impact of Complete Farm on local communities, especially regarding job creation and economic stability? I think that's really for us, the impact is really one of the biggest perks we get from doing this work, is to be able to go into the communities and see some transformation in this community. So, I think first, the building of fulfilment centres, which are production units in these farming communities,

[00:26:43] where there really isn't any economic activity, creates jobs for people to be able to... We have workers at the fulfilment centres who are responsible for the grading and packaging and sorting of the food. So, there's a lot of job creations there with the fulfilment centres. We also engage agents in this community. So, a lot of the youth in these communities, we give a lot of training to be able to support farmers within their communities.

[00:27:12] So, you get agents who want to represent their village and give back to their village as well and make sure the farmers in their villages are also being more competitive. So, the job creation angle across the value chain is immense. Now, we've seen some of our farmers also increasing the size of their farms or even diversifying their production.

[00:27:39] So, a lot of farmers, after they earn more money working with complete farmers, would either complement their production with animal house boundary. So, you'd see farmers buy cattle to store their wealth. And that's like a sign in their community of what economic success looks like. We've also seen other farmers invest in things like getting their motorcycle

[00:28:07] to be able to take their kids to school, being able to afford school fees for their kids in some of these communities. So, that's really the impact that we see. And then, from a climate perspective, through the protocols, we are able to help farmers adopt sustainable practices and also be more adaptive to the changing climate in their community.

[00:28:33] So, we are seeing more success, seeing farmers increasing their yield. It's something that is very satisfying for us at Complete Farmer when we see the impact that the work we are doing creates. So, if we look at the beginning of the farming cycle in terms of inputs, with the platform, how do you track and manage the resources that the farmers purchase, you know, in terms of seeds, fertilizers, equipment?

[00:29:01] Yeah, we work with certified and trusted wholesalers when it comes to seeds and inputs. So, we make sure we are buying directly from the source and also skipping the middlemen in that value chain as well. We do a lot of verifications with some of the vendors we have that provide this to farmers. And some of them are very well-known global brands who just do not have the distribution network

[00:29:29] to the rural communities where these farmers are located. And one of the important things or value propositions for these vendors is our fulfillment centers. So, a lot of times you'd see that a lot of these fertilizer producers or input providers are located in the cities. And a lot of our farmers are upcountry, right?

[00:29:56] And there really isn't any data that informs these vendors how much demand for chili pepper seeds will be needed this year. There's no data telling them how much fertilizer chili pepper farmers in Ghana or Togo would need. So, by being able to have farmers having dedicated production on our platform, we are able to tell these vendors, look, this area or this village will need this amount of fertilizers,

[00:30:26] need this amount of seeds, and be able to use our fulfillment center as a distribution center. So, these vendors will then bring the seeds and fertilizers to our fulfillment center. And when a farmer makes a purchase, they just can get it from the fulfillment center closest to them. So, being able to use a lot of data to inform what inventory levels some of these vendors need to have, how to distribute their inventory across the country,

[00:30:56] helps us to be able to make sure that when the farmer needs these inputs, the input is there for them to be able to acquire. And some of these vendors also are willing to give farmers some input on credit as well, which is one of the great things that I think is helping farmers really adopt some of this. Because a lot of times for new varieties of seeds and fertilizers, it comes at a higher cost. And I think through some of these credit mechanisms,

[00:31:26] farmers are more willing to adopt new seed technologies, input technologies as well. Yes, yes. Buying seeds, fertilizers, and equipment can be a challenge. So, outside of these challenges, what are some of the most common challenges you're seeing African farmers face today? African farmers face a host of problems. I think, but the biggest ones, I would say, would be getting credits. Everyone wants to tell their farmer what to do, how to grow,

[00:31:56] but no one gives them money to do the things that they say. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges. A lot of these farmers do have arable lands and have the capacity to be able to expand their production to help ensure food security. But farmers have a big challenge when it comes to securing credits from their banks. Oftentimes, their lands are not accepted as collateral.

[00:32:24] And so, it's very difficult for them to secure credits. And I think that has become a very big problem if we really want to solve problems in the agricultural value chain. I think credit is one of the biggest problems that we need to resolve for. Mechanization is also another challenge that farmers have. I think African farmers are often on the short end because mechanization requires skill, right?

[00:32:54] And the way these farmers are set up, they are more small-scale production. So, buying a tractor to work on a three-acre land doesn't give any economic incentive to anyone to do that, right? And given that most of our farmers are smallholder farmers, it's really made the problem of lack of mechanization very more serious. But I think this is something that can be resolved with unique business models.

[00:33:23] At Complete Farmer, we are always looking to partner with companies that give tractors for lease. When the tractors work on these fields, the farmers don't need to own them. So, it's some sort of circular economy models around mechanization. I think there are also unique models for irrigation using solar pumps for smallholder farmers. I think that has a solution in the market. But for things like tractors and equipment,

[00:33:51] it's still a big gap that farmers have. You mentioned mechanization is a challenge. So, how do you balance the need for mechanization and technological innovation with actual realities of rural farming? So, I think we really rely on partnerships for this. Where we find our strongest competency at Complete Farmer is being on the field with the farmer. Helping them with their protocols that they need to follow

[00:34:21] and making sure we provide our support. We partner with organizations that are able to provide this mechanization as a service to these farmers. And so, the way we've designed our platform, we are able to plug in other mechanization service providers and give them ready markets to these farmers. So, I think for anyone who is in that business of providing tractors to farmers or drones for spraying

[00:34:49] or some sort of service, seeds, fertilizers, we would like to partner with them. And our platform can help them easily integrate those farmers into their platform to be able to resolve some of these issues. So, keeping on the theme of mechanization and technological innovation, how would you ensure that the technology and solutions provided are, one, accessible and also practical for farmers

[00:35:17] who might have varying levels of tech knowledge? Yeah. So, I think being customer-centric in the design of these solutions is really the key. I think the way we've built our platform, we've built it on multiple interfaces to make sure that every farmer is able to access our service in some sort of form. So, we do have like a mobile app, a web app. We have an agent network

[00:35:46] where the agents are digitized and they provide services to the farmers. And we also use IVR and USSD to get farmers who have some feature phones to be able to access our product on our platform. So, I think we really need to build these solutions for the different demographic of farmers and not just smallholder farmers into one bundle. I think even within the smallholder farmer category,

[00:36:14] you'll find like three or four different personas. And you may need to build solutions for these different types of personas. So, that's really what we do at Complete Farmer. And also being in the last mile and being in the community with them allows us to get direct feedback on some of these solutions that we are providing to these farmers. So, I think by being very close to the farmer, being very user-focused in designing these solutions,

[00:36:43] we can see a lot of adoption. And I'll say when it comes to like hard solutions like new fertilizers, seeds and mechanization, I think the model we adopt in Complete Farmer is seen, is believing, really. And through our demo fields, if you have a new technology, for instance, a type of spraying drone, you can demonstrate this to the farmers. And that's when you can drive adoption. When you have like new fertilizers

[00:37:12] or new seed varieties, you need to be able to demonstrate to the farmers, like this is better than what you were used to. And I think farmers are willing to adapt these practices once they see the benefits as well. And I think the way to think about some of these solutions from a cost perspective, because farmers are also very cost sensitive, for every new dollar that they need to pay for an innovation or for every dollar they need to pay for a new input. There needs to be a certain return

[00:37:42] in terms of the yield to make it worth their while. So if you are introducing a solution like mechanization for farmers, does that solution help the farmer get a certain amount of return for that new investment that they need to make? And so making those solutions have significant ROI is what really drives adoption for farmers. Fantastic. So we've discussed the impact that you've made and are making.

[00:38:11] I was wondering how has Complete Farmers funding, you know, especially the $2.4 million that you raised in 2023, how has that helped scale the impact of the company's solutions? Okay. I think we raised about $10.4 million in 2023. And basically this is what enabled us to deepen our impact in the communities. We've been able to build our fulfillment centers.

[00:38:40] We've also been able to build our tech solution to be able to provide farmers more localized solutions. So we build, aside from before, we just used to have the mobile app. We've been able to build the agent network. We've also been able to build IVR interfaces to these farmers. We are also able to help local translations for these farmers as well. So all the protocols get translated in their local language.

[00:39:10] They can just call an agent, speak their local language. That gets translated into English for the field agronomists to be able to know how to provide support to these farmers. And I think it also helped us expand into Togo as well, where now we are doing about 30% of our business is now in Togo. So I think it's really been able to help us widen and deepen our impacts. And we also had fantastic investors to work with as well.

[00:39:40] I think most of the investors, when you have investors that are aligned and really care about the outcomes for farmers, it makes that alignment shows within the company. And I think Complete Farmer is very fortunate to have investors that are that mission aligned. Looking ahead, where do you see the future for Complete Farmer? Where do you see the company in the next, say, five to 10 years? The picture I like to paint is, we are building the Amazon for African agriculture. Yes.

[00:40:08] And I think for us, it's really being able to realize the potential of African agriculture and making Africa the breadbasket of the world. So I think in the next five years, we have plans to replicate what we are doing in East Africa and Southern Africa and make sure that about 30% of Africa's agriculture outputs goes through the platform and finds the needed markets.

[00:40:37] But given the size of the market, we think this could even be more. But we like to be very modest and conservative about our growth expansion. But yeah, I think it's really an exciting time to be in the industry as well. It's really an exciting time with all the technologies being developed now to be able to really capitalize on that as well. So if we look out, look at the wider farming agritech space, what do you think the agritech space in Africa

[00:41:07] will look like in the next five to 10 years? I think we'll be seeing more consolidation of technologies. I think when it comes to agritech, the outcome is for anyone in the space, the outcome is just a singular outcome, which is increasing productivity of farmers of their yields. And I think that really spells out for a lot of consolidation in solutions. So I think also collaboration as well for some of these solutions.

[00:41:36] I think for a long time, agitechs have also worked in silos as well. And I think to be able to solve the problem of food security in Africa, we'll start seeing more collaborations between agitechs because we are working for the same users. And at some point, it only makes sense that and we leverage on each other's strengths to be able to solve this problem. So I see a lot of consolidation and collaboration among agitechs in the space in the next three to five years.

[00:42:06] Thank you for sharing that. Last question. Quote of the week. As people, we often have quotes, mantras, African proverbs, or affirmations that keep us going when times are challenging or when times are good. Do you have one that you can share with us today? Yeah, I think this is something my dad used to tell me when he was alive. It goes, life is a risk.

[00:42:35] If you don't take that risk, you will be at risk. So I would encourage everyone out there to take bold steps, make bold bets, to be able to solve the big challenges that we have. Brilliant, brilliant. That's a fantastic quote. I love it. I love it. And thank you for sharing it with us today. And thank you for joining us today for this insightful conversation. It's been a pleasure learning about the work that you're doing through Complete Farmer to empower African farmers

[00:43:04] and also promote sustainable agriculture. So looking forward to seeing the company continue to grow and make an impact. Thank you for joining us on the podcast today, Desmond. Thank you very much, Tessa. And kudos to the work that you are doing and keep telling African stories. I think that's the way we build the future for Africa. Thank you very much for having me and thanks to your audience as well. Thank you to everyone who has listened and stayed tuned to the podcast.

[00:43:34] If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, or tell a friend about it. You can also rate, review us in Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your podcast. Thank you and see you next week for the Unlocking Africa podcast.