Egyptian startup FreshSource is a B2B agri-supply chain platform that connects food producers to businesses and exporters, thus increasing their income, and it is now targeting expansion across the MENA region.
Launched in January 2019 by siblings Farah and Omar Emara, FreshSource is a B2B agri-supply chain platform that leverages technology to change the way fresh goods are sourced, moved and sold. The startup partners with a range of producers, such as farms, and supplies businesses such as restaurants, hotels and online retailers with fresh fruit and vegetables.
FreshSource ensures fair and transparent prices, as well as micro-financing and technical development, while maintaining an holistic cold chain that optimises resources, storage and distribution. This leads to a food loss average of just two per cent, against a national average of 45 per cent.
“The value proposition that FreshSource brings is our ability to use our data to have optimal pricing for both our producers and our customers, leverage our technology to offer a streamlined process from end-to-end, and build on 30 years of know-how from our family business, which runs one of the largest cold-chain facilities in Egypt. These three assets solidify FreshSource as a leading and reliable fresh food supplier,” Farah Emara told Disrupt Africa.
The startup is scaling at a rapid pace, and now serves major customers across 11 Egyptian cities. The pace of its expansion is now set to quicken after it secured a seven-figure US dollar seed investment from 4DX Ventures and Wamda earlier this month. FreshSource will use the funding for further geographical expansion within the Egyptian market, as well as improving its technology platform and growing its team. It also has an eye on expansion within the MENA region.
“We have seen substantial need in the market and this is reflected in the our growth of double digits monthly,” Farah said.
“There have been many challenges as we introduce technology to an extremely traditional industry and this took time in the beginning, however, as we prove the business model, this gets easier.”
She said as a woman in this space she had also faced “incredible resistance” from many within the male-dominated agriculture industry.
“At the start, these negative comments used to really bring me down, however, as FreshSource develops and with the support of my partner and brother, Omar, I became a lot more confident,” she said.
Newfound confidence plus funding in the bank might signal a bright future for this first mover in Egypt’s agri-tech ecosystem.
