Incorporated in 2014, iProcure is a Kenyan agricultural supply chain platform operating in rural areas within East Africa.  

In addition to procurement and last mile distribution services to agro-dealers, iProcure provides business intelligence and data-driven stock management across the supply chains. 

The platform offers a variety of services to consolidate the fragmented supply chain in rural areas:   

• Warehousing and last mile services: iProcure supplies fertilizers, seeds, animal feeds and agro-chemicals such as fungicides. The company buys the products from local manufacturers and suppliers and distribute them to distributors and retailers through 9 warehouses, 12 depots and 30 trucks 
• Data-Driven distribution: iProcure provides real-time business intelligence and helps distributors and retailers track sales, manage inventory and procurement 
• SaaS model: iProcure provides the software to their agro-dealers, together with a Point-of-Sale hardware. This is in the effort to digitize the sector, where information is generally inaccurate and unreliable. The Point of Sale platform helps to make the rural agro-dealers more efficient because they are able to track their sales, costs and inventory. The platform can also be used by other logistics and distribution players operating outside the agricultural sector

iProcure has started expanding to Uganda by installing the Point of Sale platform at the agro-dealers within the country, and will eventually launch a full scale expansion to Uganda and Tanzania. The company is also considering expansion to West Africa, using the vast experience they have already gained.  

THE ENTREPRENEURS

The company was co-founded by Stefano Carcoforo and Nicole Galletta: 

• Stefano Carcoforo, born in Kenya, is currently the CEO of iProcure. Prior to founding iProcure, he worked for Philips Engineering as a Systems Engineer and for a number of large development projects in Cameroon and Haiti. He did his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Masters in Business / Project Management
• Nicole Galletta is co-Founder and Head of Innovation. She is responsible for onboarding retailers and distributors in Kenya and Uganda. Previous to founding iProcure, Nicole worked as an Urban Planner and GIS Expert for UN Habitat, and Geographic Information Manager for FAO. She has a Master’s Degree in Urban / Environmental Planning

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

• Supporting the growth of the company in East Africa, starting with Uganda  
• Further expansion into more counties in Kenya 
• Increasing the company’s capacity to use data to make the operations more efficient 
• Supporting the company in their quest to brand their own products 
• Improving the website and social media presence 

EXPECTED IMPACTS

• iProcure improves access to essential products for the rural farming population 
• Digitisation of agro-dealers using iProcure’s Point of Sale platform, which will over time, help to switch the agro-dealers from manual record keeping to digital records. This also helps the traders to forecast their inventory needs, and reduce pilferage within their shops 
• Increasing traceability of the agricultural inputs being sold to farmers – over time, this will help understand and reduce environmental impacts of these inputs 
• Growth of a Kenyan start-up expanding across East Africa and eventually West Africa, creating significant employment within the urban, and especially rural areas 

Since its creation in 2016, the online platform Afrikrea has been promoting African-inspired fashion and crafts (clothing, accessories, decoration, etc.)  

Afrikrea offers customers the chance to buy African creations online under the best conditions. However the originality and added value of its approach lies above all in the support and the provision of sales management tools to designers.    

Since 2020, this service offer is accessible on a second platform, ANKA, and works on a subscription basis. ANKA is an all-in-one solution that allows any African seller (and not only fashion designers) to sell and ship their products worldwide and get paid quickly through international and local payment systems. 

Currently, Afrikrea federates a community of 7,400 sellers present in 47 African countries and offers a wide range of products with more than 120,000 available references to more than 200,000 users and 60,000 buyers in over 150 countries. 

The entrepreneurs

Afrikrea is led by a team of 4 promoters: Moulaye Tabouré (CEO), Kadry Diallo (CMO), Luc Perussault Diallo (CTO) and Guillaume Darnaudet (CFO), all with complementary profiles in auditing, IT, project management and finance.  

Having grown up in Bamako (Mali) before moving to France for their studies, co-founders Moulaye Tabouré and Kadry Diallo realized that African handmade products were as rare as highly prized and valuable.  

As for Luc Perussault Diallo, the company's CTO, he has over 20 years of experience in marketplaces and e-commerce. Guillaume Darnaudet joined the Afrikrea adventure in 2018 as CFO and shareholder, after a position as financial manager in a construction company in Ivory Coast. 

Partnership with I&P

I&P is committed to working with Afrikrea to support the company in: 

• Strengthening its technological and marketing team in order to ensure a better offer of tools and services and to offer the best possible support to sellers  

• Expanding its geographical scope

Expected Impacts

• Creation of economic opportunities for African creators by reducing barriers to accessing large markets 

• Job creation: over 50% job growth during the investment period 

• Strong impact on gender equality: 80% of the marketplace's sellers are women 

Zeepay is the fastest growing Ghanaian-owned fin-tech, promoting financial inclusion in Ghana. Zeepay focuses on digital rails to connect digital assets such as mobile money wallets, cards, ATMs, Bank Accounts and Digital tokens to International Money Transfer Operators, Payments, Subscriptions, International Airtime and Refugee payments.

Zeepay has experienced exponential growth since its launch in 2016 and currently terminates over 130,000 transactions on a monthly basis

In March 2020, Zeepay became the first Ghanaian-owned company to be issued an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) licence by the Bank of Ghana. This license enables Zeepay to offer the full spectrum of mobile financial services in Ghana.

The entrepreneur

Andrew Takyi-Appiah is the Managing Director of Zeepay. Andrew is an expert in banking and mobile payments, having accumulated over 15 years of experience in banking and business development, from working in 3 continents: Europe, North America and Africa. His African experience spans across Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa. Prior to founding Zeepay, Andrew previously worked at PwC (UK), PwC (Ghana), Barclays UK, UT Bank, Ecobank, GT Bank, Nestle and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Partnership with I&P 

The partnership between Zeepay and I&P (through its fund I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2) aims to:

⇒ Help Zeepay meet regulatory capital requirements of the license

⇒ Support the company on talent acquisition, technology development and customer acquisition

Expected Impacts

⇒ Deepen financial inclusion, especially to underserved sections of the population

⇒ Catalyze economic development by promoting access to faster, safer and cheaper ways to access international remittances

⇒ Create decent jobs across the continent in the technology sector