In this edition of Business Day Spotlight, our focus is on a local start-up bringing a touch of technology to how farmers find buyers for their produce.
Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Karidas Tshintsholo, co-founder of Khula Agriculture Technology, a digital marketplace bringing small- and large-scale farmers together with customers on one platform.In this discussion, Tshintsholo explains why and how the business was started. He says that with about 60% of the world’s arable land located in Africa, it made no sense to he and his partners why so much food is imported.
The farming app Khula won the best agriculture solution at the MTN Business Awards in 2018. This, Tshintsholo says, raised the profile of their company in a big way and helped garner much interest from the investment community. He explains that Khula has been operating in a pilot form for the last two years with plans to officially launch in the coming 12 to 18 months, to make sure it has a tried and tested business model when the platform is available to the public.The Khula team has been to a number of countries in an effort to learn from other technology players, as well as trying to attract much needed investment.