Since the 1990s, there has been fairly consistent statistics regarding the survival of businesses in their first 10 years. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), data shows that approximately 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open due to several factors. Farmcrowdy has not only beaten those odds, but we have surpassed it as we celebrate our 5th year anniversary.
You may ask, “what is the driving force behind our survival?”
Simple, a raw zeal to impact the businesses and lives of those within the agricultural food chain.
Growth is a part of our life force, innovation, a part of our story. We believe that our existence up to this time is a result of our building blocks of effort. The ardent and selfless steps we have imbued into ensuring the existence of the enterprise. This implies that our perception of growth depicts an ascending trajectory, it could only be bigger, higher and better.
Looking back to our earlier days, Farmcrowdy started out as a crowdfunding platform involved in crowdsourcing funds from individuals and corporates, via our online platform, with a promise of a share in the returns. These private individuals and entities were known as sponsors. This initiative was a forward-thinking solution to the problems farmers faced with acquiring capital to run agribusinesses. Sponsors’ funds were used to secure the land, engage the farmer, plant the seeds, insure the farmers and farm produce, complete the full farming cycle, sell the harvest and then pay the farm sponsor a return on their sponsorship. While the farm activities were ongoing, the farm sponsors were able to keep track of the full cycle by getting updates in the form of texts, pictures and videos.
Within its first years, Farmcrowdy successfully raised a combined $2.4m in grants, pre-seed, and seed investments. And in the process of financing farms, it has raised $15m for over 25,000 farmers.
Since its inception, Farmcrowdy has been able to amass a network of over 300,000 farmers, cultivated across 17,000 acres of farmland, reared 3 million broilers, and deployed funds for farming projects across the country.
During the outbreak of the pandemic, Farmcrowdy began FC Foods as a means to combat the challenge of purchasing foodstuffs during the year-long lockdown in Nigeria. Food items such as goats, rams, rice, tomatoes, yams and other regular household food items were purchased via application or phone call and delivered to the doorsteps of customers for their comfort and safety.
A few months ago, Farmcrowdy reviewed its business structure to evolve into two strategic business lines – FC Foods and FC Shops. FC foods still remain as it is; a one-stop digital marketplace for trading raw agro-products, inputs and commodities.
FC Shops, on the other hand, is a tech-enabled B2B retail platform that helps small retailers source their inventory by facilitating access to the widest assortment of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) goods at wholesale prices. FC Shops brings the market to your doorstep.
The goal of the restructuring was to facilitate stakeholder access to maximum profitability in the food value chain. In the bid to provide continuous value and take us through the future years, while preserving our legacy as a leading Agritech business, our mission is targeted at promoting sustainability in the global food value chain. We understand that technology serves as an enabler and we intend to adopt and create infrastructure to provide efficiency in the food system.
Recent Comments