Washington DC, May 15th, 2008 Mark Davies Challenges well known... No market choice Low prices Price Instability No credit Poor quality Small volumes A failing of relevant information market information systems are not new.... But have rarely worked for the people A powerful tool to help disrupt the status quo And bring computing to rural communities Whats different: 1.Data gets cheaper 2.Data gets more accurate 3.Data gets more relevant The game has changed everywhere: Networks of information have changed our lives Why cant we extend it to African Agric? information (MIS) consists of three elements To be successful: technology deployment 123 biz model technology Traditional MIS of prices, news, offers, on WEB Powerful Price analysis tools... Maps showing prices, offers, users... Linking 533 markets in WA SMS Automatic SMS Alerts... GROUPS providing powerful tools to private and public groups is how the platform grows GroupWare can reduce their costs and improve their services to members... Paid members can advertise their goods Offers, products & services, address... ROLEScollector Sub- agent agentbrokerexporter PRICES/kg$1.5$2$4$6$7 61 DAYS PROFIT21%7%21%29%21% ROLEScollectoragentexporter PRICES/kg$2$4$7 29 DAYS PROFIT29% 43% Voacanga africana Impacts of using realtime/SMS based communications George Boateng, Exporter These groups will allow members to submit more than just prices or offers.... Farm Tracking Harvest Tracking Inventory tracking Pest Tracking Disease Tracking Transport Alerts Imagine the value to credit bureaus... the model deployment p We target the bottom half of the pyramid large exporters medium business Small traders & producers Issues: Poverty Literacy Culture Access Trust Good coverage trust mediation tradepoint franchises commission-based selling & supporting subscriptions 100% Public > 80% Private Private ngos government private ngos gov MIS 1.0 MIS years? Use the platform as a cost reduction strategy & toolset to private sector And leverage their data as MIS Distribution Channel Madam Cassava from Kano putting here kids through college Issa Keita in Mali exporting shea to France Results so far 600 markets 900,000 prices 15 countries +$1m deals 12,000 trained 150 ABIPs Powerful platform Strong PPP Hard to attribute Traders only Inconsistent data Opportunistic deals No revenues Disappointing usage No marketing! A big challenge the model How to generate revenues to pay for the services: Group Subscriptions Basic Free Gold $800 Platinum $2,600 Indiv Subscriptions Requests 3 cents Basic $20/pa Gold $60/pa Sponsorships & ads Direct Marketing SMS branding Data Mining ,000 traders signup for gold = $3m/year Is it sustainable? $500,000/year in expenses 50 gold groups 500 regular groups 40,000 regular subscribers 5,000 gold subscribers = 130,000 = 400,000 = 800,000 = 300,000 = $1,630,000 TradeNet in 2008 Afghanistan Pakistan Vietnam Honduras Tanzania Uganda Mozambique Madagascar Sri Lanka Ghana Nigeria Cameroon Niger Mali Burkina Faso Cote DIvoire expenses $700,000 revenues $350,000 My business innovation comes from Education Experience Capital How can the Bank create the enabling Environment for many more TradeNets? Thank you! Mark Davies Rice price over last 10 years Agronet, May 2008 Thai long grain rice, Bangkok