Togo - Startup under 3 years old

Describe your project or startup in a few words

PaySwap empowers farmers with products that provide access to credit, better agricultural inputs, and fairer crop prices.

01.01 Describe your startup in more detail

PaySwap offers a suite of products designed to empower farmers by providing them with access to credit, better agricultural inputs, and fairer prices for their crops. One such product is ValuePool, which allows farmers to establish an alternative credit score by participating in tontines—a common savings mechanism in many African countries. ValuePool ensures a safer and more transparent way for farmers to engage in tontines by recording every transaction on the blockchain. These transactions are then used to generate an alternative credit score for participating farmers. Once farmers' credit scores reach a certain threshold, they can apply for loans through Stakemarket, another PaySwap product. These loans are provided either by PaySwap or by individuals worldwide who trust farmers with proven track records in tontines. The CanCan marketplace product enables farmers to sell their crops directly to end users without intermediaries and suppliers to sell agricultural inputs to farmers.

01.02 What is the main problem you are trying to solve?

In Africa, a significant challenge faces 175 million smallholder farmers who struggle to access credit due to their lack of digital financial histories and collateral to secure loans. This issue is compounded by the difficulty lenders face in verifying customers, particularly in remote areas where formal identification is scarce. Even in more developed countries with centralized records, poor data quality necessitates costly verification processes, often outweighing potential revenues. Furthermore, these farmers encounter obstacles in obtaining fair prices for their crops, as middlemen typically claim a disproportionate share of profits. This imbalance affects buyers as well, who struggle with inconsistent supplies and limited visibility into crop delivery locations. Consequently, farmers find themselves caught in a cycle of poverty, unable to enhance crop yields due to cash flow constraints and receiving inadequate returns for their produce.

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your startup provides (at least 3).

The major benefit is that by having farmers conduct their tontines (which they already do in a non formal manner) on the blockchain, we can create a credit history on each farmer and compute a credit score which is essential in convincing any lender to lend money to the farmers. Getting access to funds is vital for smallholder farmers. Another main benefit is the ability for farmers to purchase agricultural inputs straight from the platform as well as sell their products to end users without intermediaries and directly from the platform's marketplace CanCan

01.04 Please describe who exactly your startup’s product/service is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

Our product is mainly targeted towards smallholder farmers who are often illiterate, and live in farms. They don't have bank accounts and no bank branches nearby.

01.05 When was your company established?

2024-01-01

01.06 Are you already selling your product/service?

No

01.07 How many other owners are there within your startup?

1

01.08 Among the other owners, how many are female?

1

01.09 Please describe the profile of the other owners within your startup (skills, experience, etc.)

Tetevi Placide Ekon - CEO: Working in the blockchain industry writing smart contracts on EVM compatible blockchains for 4 years now - https://linkedin.com/in/tetevi-placide-ekon; Denyo Marcus Ekon - CTO: Worked for 4+ years as a software engineer for companies like Quonto and Google - https://linkedin.com/in/marcek Adjo Sika Djeni - Head of Marketing: Has a masters degree in Sociology and 4 years experience in sales

01.10 If you have a website, a social media page (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin…), or app, please provide the link(s) here:

https://payswap.org/valuepools

01.11 Which industry best describes your project?

g) Financial services

02.01.01 My startup contributes to the No poverty goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification for my startup

The lack of financing, access to agricultural inputs, or the fact that they have to rely on intermediaries to sell their products puts smallholder farmers at a huge disadvantage since they often get very small margins on their products and are locked in a cycle of poverty. By providing access to credit, agricultural inputs and a direct access to end users, we help farmers break that poverty lock and start building their wealth.

02.02.01 My startup contributes to the Zero hunger goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification for my startup

By helping farmers produce more and sell directly to end users, we help increase to supply of food in the marketplace and if there is more supply, the price will decrease thus enabling more people to gain access to food. That is how PaySwap helps eradicate hunder

02.03.01 My startup contributes to the Good health and well-being goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification for my startup

Getting access to good food is essential for one well-being and in helping farmers produce good food, PaySwap helps further this goal as well

02.04.01 My startup contributes to the Quality education goal

4

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification for my startup

02.05.01 My startup contributes to the Gender equality goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification for my startup

By helping farmers male or female gain access to credit, PaySwap empowers women to be just as productive as men and thus furthering the goal of gender equality

02.06.01 My startup contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

5

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification for my startup

02.07.01 My startup contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

4

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification for my startup

02.08.01 My startup contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

7 - Strongly Agree

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification for my startup

A huge percentage of people in Africa as a whole work either directly on indirectly in agriculture. By helping farmers be more productive, PaySwap also helps put them in a position where they can employ more and more people and give them good salaries. This contributes to economic growth.

02.09.01 My startup contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

4

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification for my startup

02.10.01 My startup contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification for my startup

Access to credit helps reduce inequalities at a societal level and by developing a new credit scoring system, PaySwap helps reduce inequalities. If our credit score proves effective for farmers, we can expand it to the general population and help everybody get access to credit.

02.11.01 My startup contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification for my startup

By helping farmers produce more and better, PaySwap helps them provide the food that their communities and cities need and thus they will not have to import more food from abroad which can be damaging to the climate and the environment.

02.12.01 My startup contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

4

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification for my startup

02.13.01 My startup contributes to the Climate action goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification for my startup

PaySwap aims to at some point start educating farmers in sustainable practices for the environment. The more farmers rely on our platform for their credit needs, the more impactful we can be in that regard.

02.14.01 My startup contributes to the Life below water goal

2

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification for my startup

We are currently mainly focused on farmers but might expand to the fishing industry in the future

02.15.01 My startup contributes to the Life on land goal

5

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification for my startup

We plan to at some point start educating farmers on sustainable practices for the environment and climate

02.16.01 My startup contributes to the Peace Justice and Strong Institutions goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.16.02 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Justification for my startup

02.17.01 My startup contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification for my startup

06.01 There are a large number of customers who already use a product/service very similar to the product/service we envision creating.

2

06.02 The product/service represents an entirely new type of product/service.

1 - Strongly Disagree

06.03 The product/service could be described as a new technology.

2

06.04 The product/service is an improvement on an existing product or service.

6

06.05 The product/service could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

6

06.06 The product/service responds to a demand or need that has not been satisfied by other products/services.

6

06.07 The product/service is a new version of an old product/service.

2

06.08 Justification for my startup

06.09 Competitive Analysis

Our competitors are other companies trying to help small-holder farmers, companies such as Akaxobi, or Hiveonline even though we tend to view them more like allies than competitors and our offerings are not exactly similar.

11.05 Are you initiating actions within your community to promote the role of female entrepreneurs?