Farmers’ app with E Cape roots goes global

A South African husband and wife team is using technology to bridge the gap between farmers and buyers globally, drawing on their upbringing in rural farming communities. The eFama app is a digital marketplace that connects farmers directly with buyers, helping streamline the agricultural supply chain through technology and a network of verified farmers, buyers and logistics partners. “See it as a digital version of the physical market,” said eFama CEO Shadrack Kubyane.

“Think of eFama as Checkers Sixty60 without the shelves.” The platform already has about 6,000 buyers on its marketplace and a pipeline of roughly 5,000 farmers looking to join the network. We have increasing demand across the African continent The startup has also secured backing from 10 investors as it continues to expand. The platform operates nationwide, but demand has spread beyond SA.

“We have increasing demand across the African continent,” said Kubyane, noting that about 5% of users are based outside Africa. The platform has also reached Europe, the Middle East and North America, serving farmers as far afield as Texas and Colorado. “The demand is outpacing our supply chain infrastructure,” he said. Built as a cloud-native startup from the outset, eFama was designed entirely in the cloud, allowing the platform to scale without needing later migration.