About
Last update : 11 june 2021
Brastorne
Botswana
Agriculture & FoodTech
AgriTech
Regions impacted
Botswana | Democratic Republic of the Congo
Year of establishment
2013
Number of employees
16
Description

Brastorne has developed the mAgri solution, which allows farmers to access information and also services, markets and ultimately new opportunities via USDD.

Support(s) via hubs, incubations, programs

CTA, Orange Fab, Facebook , and Botswana Innovation Hub

Awards and honors
  • Pitch Agri Hack 2016, CTA
  • Private business growth awards, 2018 – Grant Thornton
  • Best Business Services, 2019 – Botswana Investment and Trade Center
  • Orange Women Start Accelarator, 2018 – Orange
  • Facebook London Accelerator, 2020 – Facebook
Last update

Brastorne – With mAgri, farmers “connected” to the market
Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Agriculture | AgriTech | Connectivity | ICTs | USSD
mAgri is a USSD mobile app that allows farmers to access markets, information and financing, all from one phone - Photo courtesy of Brastorne - RR

In Botswana, Brastorne has developed the mAgri solution, which allows farmers to access information and also services, markets and ultimately new opportunities via USDD.

The issue

The lack of Internet access in rural areas deprives people of access to information and services

Millions of people are not connected to the Internet. Despite real progress – the proportion of people in Africa with access to the internet rose from 21.8% in 2013 to 41.9% in 2019 – Africa remains the least connected continent, with only 28.2 internet users per 100 inhabitants. Internet access rates are even lower in rural areas. Africa needs to invest $100 billion to achieve affordable and good quality internet access by 2030, according to the World Bank.

The interest of USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is to provide low bandwidth data services allowing users to send information over a GSM network without an Internet connection.

The solution

mAgri, an application providing data to farmers without Internet connection
mAgri has nearly 800,000 “connected” farmers – Photo courtesy of Brastorne – RR

mAgri is a USSD mobile application allowing farmers to access markets, data and financing from a simple phone. We’ve turned a simple cell phone into a business platform,” says Martin THATO STIMELA, general manager of Brastorne Enterprises. There’s no need for data connections, no need to install client software or involve the use of SMS. Anyone can access advanced web applications such as email, chat, Wikipedia, news and marketplaces from anywhere, at any time.

The application gives farmers access to information such as advice, animal health records, training, announcements, commodity prices, and weather alerts, as well as services that help them improve their productivity and access markets.

The stakeholders

A pair of entrepreneurs
Martin THATO STIMELA and Naledi MAGOWE, co-founders of Brastorne – Photo courtesy of Brastorne- RR

At 30 years, Martin THATO STIMELA was the youngest ever banking executive in Botswana. An experienced program manager, he has a history of leading financially sustainable projects.

Naledi MAGOWE, Brastorne’s co-founder and marketing manager, is a Botswana entrepreneur driven by the idea of providing solutions that have a positive impact on the environment and aim to improve the lives of disadvantaged communities in her country.

The impact

Democratizing access to the market

With nearly 800,000 farmers “connected” to the market through their app, Brastorne is helping to democratize access to the market and accordingly better incomes. “We have a very large number of subscribers and we have 100,000 loyal subscribers per month. Every day, 500 people join our platform. Our application helps merchants access a market that was previously inaccessible,” says Naledi MAGOWE, co-founder of Brastorne.

After deploying in Botswana, the company will expand into the Democratic Republic of Congo through a partnership with the Orange Group. “In addition, as part of the COVID-19 crisis, we worked with the government and launched an information system last June that is widely deployed throughout the country.

Find out more:

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