Tawi, a digital marketplace that aims at easing the reach of a farmer to the vast consumer market places has been officially launched in the agritech market linking business to business.
SC Ventures, the fintech, investment, and ventures arm of Standard Chartered Bank, played a vital role in the launch of Tawi, a B2B agritech marketplace, that is geared to mainly support e-commerce transactions for smallholder farmers in Kenya.
Tawi will mainly link farmers to all types of consumers as it enhances scaling making the agriculture value chain more sustainable. Offering linkage between consumers and farmers directly will entail sourcing fresh produce directly from the farmers as well as advising the farmers on how to improve quality crops for more value.
The founder and CEO of Tawi, Cheruiot Rutto, a former banker who is passionate about farming urged on the essence of Tawi being in offering farmers an opportunity of reaching the Sh200 billion market opportunity.
“Through Tawi, a farmer’s visibility is optimized as well as earnings since it makes the farmer earn more for their products while also improving the supply-chain efficiency of high-quality products to commercial clients,” said Tawi founder Rutto.
According to George Kariuki, a farmer from Githunguri, the sales of his vegetables both indigenous and exotic were instantaneously paid for though it was mostly in smaller quantities. However, since joining Tawi, he has been selling in larger quantities around 80kgs onwards which is picked from the farm by Tawi as the harvesting is done, thereby Tawi has made it easier for his services.
” Tawi has shown me that it is possible to even make more returns from my farming venture even though there are some challenges that if they can assist us overcome yields will be more. During the prolonged drought period, products were greatly hindered there if Tawi can offer solar irrigation pumps, and expertise of the soil to assess our farms it will be for the greater good,” said the farmer.
Additionally, the Standard Chartered Bank CEO and Tawi Board Chairman Kariuki Ngari, lauded Tawi for the focus on farmers who are essential in addressing food insecurity issues. Further stating that Tawi offers assured quality, consistency, traceability, and efficiency in products, ‘let’s transform Kenya for the better.’
“Food insecurity is a key issue in the country that as compared to nations like Pakistan it’s been addressed evidently by their ability to produce enough rice for their population. Kenya we are still not able to even produce enough of our staple food that is maize, so this is a major step towards addressing such,” said Tawi Board Chairman Kariuki Ngari.
It was noted though that Tawi having started testing the platform in February, has onboarded over 1,000 farmers, and 250 commercial kitchens and fulfilled over 1000 deliveries an achievement that’s motivating enough for its planned expansions.
The agritech platform started off by supplying commercial kitchens, which represent around Sh28 billion in consistent and predictable market opportunity.
“We are delighted for the launch of Tawi, a fintech that understands agriculture is more than just a business—it’s a way of life, rooted in community, hard work, and dedication,” said Jiten Arora, Member, SC Ventures.
Jiten Arora emphasized that despite Tawi taking on a phased approach in building its marketplace and business model, its similar to SC Ventures as it has a conviction of the vitality of partnerships in driving success and growth for partners and businesses.
Based on the testimonials offered at the launch, Tawi is focused on the swift delivery of services offering its trajectory in the market, as the demand for food products is steadily rising. In conclusion, CEO and Founder Tawi Cheruiot Rutto remarked that; ” We are here for you and we are here for a long time.”
