Deadline: 7ème May 2021

AGRA is seeking concept notes from credible organizations that offer sustainable, scalable, and innovative solutions that improve the reliability and provide assurance on the financial statements of Agricultural SMEs.

These solutions might include financial management and record keeping tools, audit solutions, alternative financial reporting systems, digital record keeping, etc. More reliable financial statements increase the chance of Agri SMEs to access funding and investment opportunities. Do you have a solution to these questions?

  • What innovative solutions can support SMEs to deliver the equivalent of audited financial statements in a less cumbersome and costly manner? The solution can include things like mobile accountants, mobile phone-based record keeping, picture-based accounting, etc.
  • What add-ons or type of services can be deployed on top of existing accounting systems to give financial statements the reasonable assurance required by lenders? The existing accounting systems include but are not limited to Sage, Excel, QuickBooks, manual accounts,etc.
  • What solution can support SMEs to undertake their financial record keeping more easily in a visible and transferrable manner to lenders? Digital record keeping?
  • How much does it cost an SME to adopt and implement these solutions if rolled out on scale (1,000+ SMEs)?
  • Apart from audit, what else can be done to ensure that financial reports provide users with a faithful depiction of the transactions the agri-SMEs conduct?
  • What digital technologies can make financial recording and reporting more valuable and useful? How can the digital technologies satisfy the full range of the lender’s needs?

ELIGIBILITY

The competition is open to all companies who meet the following criteria:

  • Be a registered business entity involved in financial record keeping solutions for small enterprises in East Africa.
  • Have operations in one or more of the following countries: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and/or Uganda.
  • Have a proof-of-concept and looking for scaling of the business model.
  • The proposed solution can be pre-revenue or early revenue.

More information about this call and how to apply, please visit: https://agra.org/call-for-concept-notes-agra-aceli-africa-innovation-challenge/