US firm GMC funds Kenyan small-farm marketplace Farmshine

Farmshine has received Sh25 million from US-based impact investor Gray Matters Capital (GMC) to expand operations.

Through its gender lens sector agnostic portfolio GMC coLABS, it said Farmshine will hire and train personnel including field agents with part of the funds spent on improving its mobile app.

The coLABS portfolio manager Jennifer Soltis said the funding creates an avenue where women farmers will be contracted with their farm produce sold at far much higher prices via the Farmshine platform. Payments will be sent through their phones.

“Women are often excluded from the formal economy in Kenya and it is difficult for them to find better opportunities or higher paying work. The Farmshine platform provides access to completely transparent pricing information that informs all planting activities from a market-oriented approach,” she said.

Farmshine founder and CEO Luca Alinovi said the platform is applicable to any market where small farmers lack an association to help raise volumes round the year for large companies such as retail stores, fresh produce markets and food processing companies.

As a value-add, participating farmers will benefit from extension services throughout the season thereby enhancing production via proper crop husbandry. Source: Business Daily Africa