Overall Goal

The SMART team, working in collaboration with M-Farm, will visit, document and provide an analysis of the company’s supply chain operations and marketing approach through the lens of digital agriculture to strengthen and improve client services—from farm to market.

Company/Business Location

Nairobi, Kenya

Company Profile

M-Farm is a pioneer agribusiness technology firm that has revolutionized the digital agriculture space in Kenya since its official operations began in 2011.  As a social enterprise, the company is at a pivotal point and aims to grow its support for other agribusinesses providing supply chain solutions for diverse stakeholders—farmers, private and public institutions, businesses among others.  The current platform provides information for farmers to make informed decisions and empowers them with the tools to connect and communicate with buyers.  To date, M-Farm has served 35,000 clients using various exploratory applications and platform models.  The current value chains that M-Farm focuses on include: Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, onions, chilies, tomatoes, garlic and strawberries.  The company envisions a Kenya (and Africa) where technological innovation makes agriculture market-led, girded by business intelligence, market linkages, social networks and peer-to-peer learning.

Proposed Team Tasks

The specific tasks of the SMART team will be to:

1. Design and carry out an effective market analysis to assist M-Farm in using their platform to tap and expand linkages and opportunities within the supply chain from the farm to the markets.  This will include user journey designing for the platform.
2. Explore and develop a communication strategy to improve M-Farm’s visibility especially through print and electronic approaches (e.g. mobile technology, website, etc).

Desired Skills

The skills and background that would be beneficial (but not all necessary) for this project include:

• Good understanding of business (e.g. market analysis, value chains, etc) and development frameworks;
• Research, analytical and writing skills (e.g. publishable case study);
• Knowledge in fields such as engineering, communication, marketing, economics, information technology and agricultural sciences; and
• Skills in user interfacing (UI) and/or user journey mapping is an added plus.

Fieldwork Dates

Tentative dates: January 5-18, 2020.

Team Leader

Jum Warritay | Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble | otw2@cornell.edu

Additional Information

Company Website: https://www.mfarm.co.ke/
Company Blog: https://www.mfarm.co.ke/blog