BenAgri : the platform for agricultural entrepreneurs in Africa

Agricultural entrepreneurship has a bright future in Africa! The only problem is that local products are sorely lacking in visibility. In Benin, the BenAgri platform offers a showcase for local products and wishes to promote the “made in Benin”. Interview with its founder Jacques ADJAHOUNGBO.

Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Jacques ADJAHOUNGBO, from Benin.
I am a computer analyst-programmer and web entrepreneur.
I created the start-up FIDALI which developed BenAgri, an application dedicated to agriculture and agribusiness in Benin. BenAgri is an online catalog of products Made In Benin accessible to all.

What issue are you trying to address?

We started from 2 observations:
1. Lack of information: There is a general lack of knowledge of the products available on the markets as well as a lack of information on the price of agricultural products sold on the markets of the different communes of Benin.

2. Local agricultural products are cruelly lacking in visibility both inside and outside the country. They are not promoted and this has a negative impact on the entire Beninese agri-food chain.

What concrete solution does BenAgri provide?

BenAgri proposes to bring visibility to farmers, producers and traders. They have access to an online stand and can benefit from the promotion of their agricultural and agri-food products. They also have the possibility to sell them directly online.
The platform works on a system of subscriptions to various services and in particular: the publication of offers and requests for products, access to the prices of agricultural products on the markets of the major cities of Benin and finally, the possibility of using the platform in white label within the framework of an online fair for example.

To date, 81 producers are registered on the platform.

BenAgri makes it possible to find out the price of a product from a computer, a tablet, a smartphone or any other device connected to the internet, from anywhere in the world.
Thus, whether you are in Cotonou, Abomey or anywhere else in Benin, Africa or in the world, you can find out how much a bag of onions costs on the Nikki market for example.
Better still, it is even possible to buy this bag of onions from the seller of one’s choice.

What is your impact in a concrete way?

BenAgri helps reduce information costs. The platform collects information on products in real time (prices, availability) and thus makes it possible to follow their fluctuations.

BenAgri is also involved in raising the skills of producers. We organize, with the help of technical partners, awareness sessions and site visits.

Thus we actively contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

What are your future goals?

BenAgri’s ambition is to become the reference information system for agricultural markets in Benin. Then, we plan to take advantage of the opening of the Beninese market to position ourselves on the African continent, which is a real terroir in this field.

The dynamics thus created will allow BenAgri to be the social network par excellence for agricultural entrepreneurs in Africa.

Well, good luck to BenAgri!

Further reading : Adding value to local products in Africa

Photo credit: BenAgri