eSoko (Electronic Market) Arms Farmers with Information

Farmers across Africa are using mobile SMS technology to access up to date market information for their crops.  The innovative market service, created by a Ghanian company, Esoko, has enabled small holder farmers in Africa to negotiate better price deals for their crops and help with production planning.

Currently Esoko is active in eight African countries: Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Mozambique, Madagascar and Malawi.

For years agriculture has been described as the engine for growth across Africa.  As agricultural businesses make a significant impact on the economic development of the continent, support for small holder farmers was absolutely needed.

The Esoko service consists of mobile updates for farmers and traders delivered by SMS that include market prices and buy/sell offers, bulk SMS functionality, websites for small businesses and associations, and SMS polling technology.  

Esoko Malawi has a network of enumeration agents stationed in market centers across the country who feed data like prices, offers, and industry profiles.  The network also includes associations, businesses, informal groups of traders, regional projects or any group of entity that wants to exchange market information like MicroLoan Foundation who will be equipping all of our loan officers with this service to better serve our clients.

Sixteen commodities are included in the index—maize(white, grain), beans(dolichos), (nanyati), (red), (mixed), (napilira), (ground), soya beans, pidgin peas, cow peas, groundnuts(chalimbana), (G7), (manipinta), rice(kilombero), (faya), and (pusa). Markets were selected based on their regional location and strategic importance, and they include Karonga, Jenda, Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Mitundi, Mchinji, Kasungu, Lizulu, Mangochi, Limbe, Mikando, Chikhwawa, and Zomba.

My project while in Malawi will include setting up MicroLoan on the Esoko Malawi network and provide and train our branch managers with this innovative technology.  

Please watch a flash animation video demonstrating how the service works.

Internet....Power

Well our meeting this morning was called short as the internet service was down and we were planning on testing our account with Esoko via the internet.  Hopefully it will work later on as I would really like to begin testing the service.  If not I will have to do some work this weekend!

Also, the power went out three times today for more than two hours at a time!

At least it was sunny and I was able to hang out by the pool!

Best 

Jimmy

A Day of Meetings

All

Last night I woke up at 3 AM and went on ichat and was able to talk to my brother, Connor and cousin, Jenna.  Because there is little internet service at the lodge, the only time you get really good, accessible service is when everyone is asleep and no one is on the network.  It was great chatting with them and I hope to catch up with them and my family some more this coming weekend!

This morning I had a wonderful breakfast, fresh fruit salad and an egg on toast!  The food at the lodge is great!  There is even a pool for swimming and laying out!  The lodge is a huge destination for Europeans.  I have met those from England, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy!  They are all quite young so listening to loud music, smoking a cigarette, and chugging beers and taking shots was rather normal.  I was unable to do any of that as I had to wake up early for meetings this morning but there is a great vibe at the lodge and I look forward to the activity and commotion this weekend!

Our first meeting was with a man named Rick at Tough Stuff, a solar company based in Nairobi, Kenya.  Rick is currently working on his masters in international management.  MicroLoan is currently piloting a project with their clients to enable women to sell or rent solar products from Tough Stuff and Solar Aid.  The products include: panels, lights, battery packs, and phone chargers.  Our clients must have a years’ worth of loan repayment history in order to partake in this project with MicroLoan Foundation.  Our women are having no problems selling as they are very easy to sell to those individuals who have enough collateral to purchase.  We currently have eight women working on the solar sales model which includes five of each of the products.  The cost of the entire package is 27,000 MWK and the women have a three month period to repay.  The other mode that two women are piloting is the solar rental model.  The rental model equips the women with a larger stock, ten, and the entire package costs 38,000MWK and the women are given a longer period, six months, to repay their loan.  Something I learned that was very interesting was that the women were renting out much of their products to grinding mills.  Equipping these mills with lights allows them to work much later into the night!  Another interesting fact was that Malawi has approximately 8% of their population on the national grid so the solar market could be huge here!  

Following our first meet we then traveled to the Market Linkages Initiative (MLI) office, a project supported by USAID.  Paolo and I met with a Malawian, Rachel, who is their Market Information Specialist.  The MLI is a two year regional program funded by the Global Hunger & Food Security Initiative to promote growth in food staples and food security, integrating small holder farmers into more efficient national and regional markets.  MLI works in seven other African countries: Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Brundi, Rwanda, and the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

The MLI is working towards four major results:

-Expand and strengthen Grain bulking Systems (GBS) in target locations

-Enhance capacity of small holder farmers to integrate into GBS

-Sustain GBS operations in relevant market institutions

-Institutionalize platforms that disseminate lessons learned and best practice.

MicroLoan Foundation is working with MLI as they just rolled out a SMS market information system.  The platform, Esoko, was started in 2009 by a team of programmers in Ghana and is currently being used in the eight African countries.  Esoko allows farmers and others in agribusiness to use their cell phones to share and receive customized, real time market information, including prices and offers.  My work in Malawi will include working with the SMS software and establishing training sessions with our loan officers in the field to better facilitate the sale of produce grown by our clients.  Our clients are growing, healthy, high quality produce and are having much trouble selling in village markets as many others are selling, decreasing the price and demand!  I will be putting together some further research on Esoko in the coming days so please look for more!

The final leg of the day ended with a small lunch and tour of a new supermarket that just opened in Malawi four days ago, Spar.  The store is very nice and is used by those Malawians with a bit more money!  It was so open and in a newly constructed open mall.  In fact, my dad sent me an article prior to knowing this!  Read the article! Spar in Malawi  They plan on opening 10 more supermarkets and express convenient stores across the country over the next five years!  Paolo and I asked to speak with the store manager about where they source all their locally grown produce.  She told us that she is looking for suppliers and will sign contracts with anyone that offers the best price.  She also said she has been restocking shelves about four times a day as many customers are flocking to the fresh, clean, and just simply beautiful produce.  We are going to continue talks with her and try and supply Spar with our clients produce on a bi-weekly/weekly basis!  

Time to do some reading and hang out with my new American friends.  

All the best

Jimmy

Americans!

All


A group of nine Americans just checked into the lodge for the night.  They are traveling around the capital on a two week tour of Malawi with their two professors doing research around their major!  They all attend Ithaca College in New York!  Check out this site to read more about what they will be doing! Ithaca in Malawi. 


I just met one of the travelers, Molly, who lives in Barnstable, MA!


Also, the national grid is known for power outages so we were just without power for more than an hour!  
A French man said "C'est la vie en Afrique!" (It's Africa)

Patient With Pictures

Please be patient with pictures.  I have lots more to post but the internet access I have at the lodge I am staying at is nothing like that offered at the MicroLoan Foundation Headquarters.

Stay tuned for them on Monday!

Jenda Yet Again

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

This morning Paolo, Gerald, and I headed to Jenda for a meeting at the branch located there.  The meeting was with the loan officers to discuss the faming project plan and the goals we hope to accomplish.  

The plan will begin with only five loan groups so we can work out all the problems before we get all the other groups we plan on working with on board.

I will write more on the farming project soon as I now have a better understanding but did not bring my paperwork with me.

Following, we had a meeting with the Project Manager of MALEZA (Malawi Enterprise Zone Associations).  MALEZA has three main foucuses: co-ops/agri business, natural resource management, and food security/nutrition.  MALEZA will be specifically utilizing their knowledge and expertise in co-ops/agri business to help us better serve our clients who are using their loans for farming.  After they met with a loan group and saw the crops they were growing, they expressed great excitement to begin work with MicroLoan and our clients.

Following the meeting I headed to the guesthouse and moved into the other one that I will be staying for the rest of my stay while in Malawi.  Tomorrow I have two meetings, one with a solar panel company and the other with a cellular phone company.  MicroLoan is working with the solar company to allow our clients to sell panels as a way for others to power a light in their village houses as a way to make money.  The cellular company, Esoko, allows sellers and buyers to use text to post crop stock and amounts they are looking to purchase in order to better connect our clients with buyers of crop.  This creates a more sustainable business model and gives our clients the best price available to sell to buyers.

I will be doing a separate report on Esoko in the coming days.  Stay tuned.

I am currently at a lodge in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, for our scheduled meetings tomorrow.  I will be back in Kasungu on Monday!

Regards

Jimmy

Market Outside of MLF Jenda Branch

Ten Different Groups Selling Tomatoes!
No wonder the price is so low!

Bean Selection at the Market

Frog in the Shower

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

The water at the guesthouse I am staying in is cold, even after leaving the water running for 10 minutes to warm up.  Last night when I was showering I met a friend!

Jenda, Malawi!

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Well I have been in Malawi for less than 24 hours and woke up at 6:30 this morning had breakfast and headed to the guesthouse with Paolo to pick up another MicroLoan volunteer and their new in-country employee Gerald.  Gerald and I will be working very closely while I am in Malawi!

We set off on a long ride to Jenda to visit one of MicroLoan Foundations new branches.  We met with one of the loan officers, Eznart and then got into the car and headed out to visit our first group.  The group, Chasefu, was comprised of 17 women who were all using their loans for farming.  They lived in a remote village about 35 minutes away from the main road.  We all introduced our selves and Gerald and Esnart translated for the women.  We then watched them as they had their bi-weekly meeting with Eznart who was there to see how everyone was doing and to collect loan repayments.  We then received a tour of the village which included all the different pieces of farm land.  I let like I was back at Medway Community Farm!  The women in this village were mainly growing maize, tomatoes, irish potatoes, bananas, pumpkins and beans.

Jenda Village School

Gerald and Paolo

Beans

Irrigation

Tomatoes

Villagers Taking us on Tour of Fields

Bannans

We then sat down with the women and engaged in a dialogue about some of the challenges they were facing and how MicroLoan Foundation could better assist them.  They spoke of the distance and cost to take their crop from field to market.  They women leave their village at 2 AM in order to make it on time for market days and the oxen and cart cost them money to use.  By the time they arrive to the market and have paid for travel, they leave with little profits.  We are not seeking a better way to serve our clients and are looking into giving loans for oxen and  carts so women have their own unpaid transport to market and could then sell their services to others allowing them to make more profits.  

Chasefu Loan Group

Following our meeting we were welcomed into the village headman's house where we were given a traditional meal which had been prepared prior to our arrival.  When we sat down we had a bowl placed underneath our hands where one of the women poured water over them allowing us to wash up.  I did not know this was done as we would be eating with our hands!  The covers were removed from the dishes and I took a look at what I would be eating, salima, a doughy corn ball and a cooked chicken from the village.  The food was very good!  I cannot wait for my next visit and chance at some more salima!  Less than 24 hours in Malawi and already managed to have a traditional meal and I almost forgot, used a village outhouse!

Traditional Meal: Salima & Chicken

Outhouse

Outhouse

After our first meeting with Chasefu, Eznart then brought us to another group Tipaniko.  They were comprised of 12 women and we met at their bi-weekly meeting spot which was under a tree next to the local church.  We engaged in another dialogue and the women spoke of the same problem, transportation costs to market.  We are going to continue to investigate this problem and seek an alternative to alleviate the cost burdened by our clients.

Tipaniko Loan Group

Have a meeting in Jenda tomorrow!  Will report more!

Jimmy

Headquarters in Kasungu, Malawi

The MicroLoan Foundation's head office is in Kasungu.  I have pictured the office below.  There are three regional offices, Mzuzu in the north, Lilongwe in the center, and Blantyre in the south.  There are then 21 branches that serve impoverished women across this area.  Each branch is comprised of a Branch Manager and one or more Loan Officers.

Located at the MLF Headquarters in Kasungu is their newly built training center.  The training center serves many purposes, but is mainly used for sewing training.  One thing that shocked me when I was talking to some of the staff about how similar they were to something I have seen before, is that MicroLoan Foundation is now serving one of their clients, Dsenyo, who the Medway Microfinance Club used to place orders with for fundraising purposes!  Another small world.  They all know the owner and founder, Marissa Perry-Saints who has I have been in contact with.  In fact we last saw one another at the Fair Trade Futures Conference in Boston, MA.  Check out her website! Dsenyo Website

Women at the Kasungu Training Center in sewing class.

Woman with baby assembling a purse to sell and make a profit!

Assembled products for Dsenyo!

Tobacco, Tobacco, Tobacco

Hello

If you've ever smoked a major-brand cigarette, especially the popular and ubiquitous Camel and Marlboro brands, the chances are you've smoked Malawian tobacco.  Manufacturers value its texture as an ideal cigarette filler.

Malawi economically depends on the crop as it earns one of the world’s poorest nations $165 million a year.  It accounts for 140,000 tons of the world's annual output of 5.7 million tons.  In Malawi there is strong government support for the tobacco industry.  The government provides subsidies and tax breaks that have led to the tobacco domination on the Malawi market. 

It is said that the wealth generated by this resource is not spread evenly across the country.  The Malawi Tobacco Control Commission (TCC), a local government watchdog for the tobacco market, estimates that it takes $1 for farm workers to produce a kilogram of tobacco, which they usually sell at $.70 for a loss of $.30 per kilo.  Hardworking farmers who cannot make a living turn to child labor.

Malawi has been heavily criticized globally for the use of children in the labor force.  Approximately 89 percent of 5 to 14 year olds work in the agricultural sector.   An estimated 78,000 children work on tobacco estates, often for long hours, low pay, and without protective clothing.  Working with tobacco can lead to Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS).  Symptoms include nicotine poisoning, severe headaches, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, coughing and breathlessness.  Child laborers absorb up to 54 milligrams of dissolved nicotine, which is comparable to smoking 50 cigarettes per day!

Farmers sell their produce on the country's auction floors directly to international corporations including Limbe Leaf Tobacco, majority owned by the Swiss-registered Continental Tobacco Company and U.S.-based Alliance One Tobacco.   Below I have pictured a few of the tobacco trucks moving bailed leaves to the auctioning floors.  For the past two months farmers have been harvesting their tobacco for auction!  This process will soon be over in the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

Jimmy

Moni from Malawi!

Monday May 23rd, 2011

For those that have not already noticed, I have been posting the following days write up as I do not have any internet access where I am staying.  Please look for todays adventure tomorrow!

Moni! (Chichewa for Hello)

What a day!  I arrived in Malawi at 2PM and went through customs, exchanged my money, and purchased a sim card for my international phone.  Then I met Paolo at the airport and was introduced to one of MicroLoan Foundations new employees who is from Malawi named Jarard.  We got into the car and traveled about an hour or so to Kasungu, the town I will be primarily based in for the next two months.

The currency in Malawi is Kwacha (MWK) and $1 USD=155.2255 MWK

For example, the guest house I am staying in cost 4,500 MWK ($30 USD) a night and a can of Coke A Cola costs 50 MWK ($.32 USD).

The drive form the airport to Kasungu was amazing.  It truly opened my eyes to what the next two months would be like.  We headed down one paved road (M1)the entire way and villages and people were dispersed along the road throughout.  We would come up upon centers with different shops like supermarkets, bakeries, seed shops, banks, etc.

For all those that know Monsanto, they have a factory out here in the capital, so when I have some time to do some research and investigation, I will report back.

We arrived in Kasungu and stopped at MicroLoan Foundations Headquarters.  I was able to meet some of their many employees both of who were either from Malawi or the United Kingdom.  They recently completed a training center there that will be used to train women in different trades (i.e. sewing, IT, etc.)

I just got word that the guest house (Mandella House) I would be staying in was fully booked with MicroLoan staff as we have a team doing some IT training out here.  I will be staying at another guest house (Emmies Place) down the street with Paolo till Friday.  The guest houses only have five rooms so there is not much space.  Last night we went for dinner at the Mandella House and ate with six other MicroLoan staff that are currently doing different projects for the foundation.  Dinner consisted of white rice, cooked vegetables, and guacamole.  For dessert we had bananas.  The food here is very good as everything is locally grown or from the garden behind the guest house.  It was so nice hearing about their Malawi experience and getting some ideas for possible things to do on my weekends off!

Tomorrow I am visiting Jenda and meeting a bunch of MicroLoan Foundation's many loan groups that are currently using loans for farming!

Will report later.

Jimmy

P.S.  Pictures coming soon!

Arrived in Malawi

All


I have arrived in Malawi!  I am at the MicroLoan Foundations Headquarters in Kasungu, Malawi.


Mom and Dad I am safe!  I will call soon.  I need to get my phone and other things set up.


More to come.


Jimmy

Final Leg

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Well I landed in Ethiopia.  What a beautiful country.  I have not even made it to Malawi yet but know this is going to be such an exciting adventure.

When I arrived at Addis Ababa International Airport, I asked the attendant where I would be getting my flight to Lilongwe, Malawi.  She told me to just hold tight for a bit.  The rest of those on my flight headed to customs and I and a few others were directed up to the holding area for those on the flight to Malawi.  

I asked the lady standing next to me what to do because the airport was not anything like the USA.  She told me she had not been to Addis before either.  We managed to keep talking and soon we were talking about what was bringing us each to Malawi.  She works for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and will be traveling to Lilongwe to meet with one of her partners in a public works project going on there.  She asked me about my trip and why I was going to Malawi.  We started talking more and I soon learned she was from Italy and studied economic development at Boston College and Boston University.  She told me how amazed she was at what I was doing and wished me so much luck.  She told me Africa is growing so quickly and it is a very exciting time to be on the continent!

We followed one another to the bus that would drop us off on the tarmac for our next flight to Lilongwe!  

While on the flight two American women were sitting in front of me and talking so as I read my book I listed in on their conversation about the health work they were both doing in Malawi.  I heard the one lady mention a group, "Partners in Health" and immediately chimed in.  I said, "Did you just say Partners in Health" and she replied, "Yes."  I said, "Wow, I am going to Malawi to work on a project with MicroLoan Foundation and my good friend Lauren Galinsky works for Partners in Health."  She said, "Oh I know Lauren, she does lots of work for us."  Lauren used to work as the full time volunteer for MicroLoan Foundation USA and worked closely with me and many others helping implement microfinance clubs in high schools across Massachusetts.  Lauren also served as the President of the Boston College Microfinance Initiative while she was a student their.  I hope your reading this Lauren!  Her name was Annemarie Ackerman and from her business card, she is the Project Manager for Partners in Health here in Malawi.  

Also, a family friend from Medway works for Partners in Health and this was something we learned just a few days ago when my parents had mentioned that I was going to Malawi for the summer to him.  He gave me his international phone and also a flip video camera to get some good footage while I am in Malawi.  Thanks again Usef Karguola.  

Two more hours and I will be in Lilongwe looking for Paolo, who I will be working with the next two months.  

Looking forward to all the people I will meet and relationships I will build!

All the best!

Jimmy

One thing I forgot to mention was my flight from Ethiopia to Malawi had a stop which I did not realize and because the flight attendants had very broken english I did not realize we stopped in the Congo.  I got off the plane thinking it was Malawi and soon realized none of the Americans got off so I asked we were in Malawi and they said no!  Good thing I asked!

Leg Two of Three

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

Hello

I have managed to  meet so very interesting people on this flight.

I am on the isle (thanks Connor for arranging that) and am sitting next to two Canadian girls who are visiting their Dad who works in Ethiopia.  They have never been to Africa but hear it is amazing.  I wish I was able to spend some time their and see the country.  

We just ate dinner, it was so good.  I love Ethiopian food.  This past academic year I traveled with a few students from Saint Joseph's University to Washington D.C. to attend the Ecumenical Advocacy Days.  The theme of the conference was women empowerment and justice.  For dinner one night we went to a great Ethiopian restaurant and had a taste of Ethiopia.  The food was wonderful but little did we know we would need a bathroom in the morning.  I just ate curry chicken and am starting to hope I don't feel the need for a bathroom when I get to Malawi.  Where did I put those tummy….oh they are in the cargo bin…. 

I have been a favorite with the flight attendants, all of who are Ethiopian.  I don't know if it's my brown nosing ability or just my polite smile,  I just went back up for my third Merlot from France.  I did not know drinks were free.  Where is Katie and Justine when I need them!  I saw three attendants talking with two Ethiopian nationals and managed to go up to them and ask about their language and told them why I was traveling.  I asked why they were in the USA and they told me they were doing research for the International Health Organization in Washington, D.C.  I wonder who else I will manage to meet.

I still have eight more hours on this flight.  We are currently crossing the Atlantic and have been in the sky for five hours and traveled 3223 miles.  Each seat has it own touch screen TV with movies, music, games, and skymap.  We are currently over the Atlantic and I would say in a bout two hours we will be crossing through Spain/France.

Well, finally, it has just become dark outside so I think it's time for me to take some Melatonin and try and sleep a few hours before breakfast is served.

Look for an update on leg three.

Hope you all had a wonderful day.

Jimmy

Leg One of Three

Hello Everyone

Well I just landed at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

After some minor confusion as to where exactly the gate would be located, I managed to find Ethiopian Airs.  The airport was very quiet this morning.  I was the first one to arrive at my gate prior to departure for Ethiopia.  The staff was waiting for the air craft to arrive from Ethiopia.  Upon arrival, many citizens entered the airport and were directed to US Customs.  I also witnessed two Caucasian couples with an African American child with them.  Had they just returned with their adopted child?

As I sit in this cafe and enjoy my last meal in the USA, (two scrambled organic eggs, whole wheat toast, and grass fed bacon) I am getting ready to begin the journey of a lifetime.

The past three years working with the MicroLoan Foundation and seeding microfinance clubs across Massachusetts is really starting to mean something to me as I prepare to see the direct work of the foundation in their mission to alleviate poverty as well as work on an exciting task through the MicroVenture Program.

Will write more after leg three of three.

Jimmy