MlimiPay Limited is a Malawian-registered and -owned digital financial technology company, dedicated to revolutionizing the agricultural sector through innovative financial solutions. Founded in 2021 by Mr. Stanislaus Sakwiya, a computer science graduate based in Lilongwe, MlimiPay has quickly established itself as a pivotal player in the fintech space. Mr. Sakwiya, who owns 100% of the company, leads a small yet dynamic team of four employees, including himself as the CEO.

The company has two flagship products: Mlimi Digital Wallet and Mlimi Digital Advisor. The Mlimi Digital Wallet enables smallholder farmers to purchase farming inputs, such as maize seeds and fertilizers, in instalments and, using mobile money applications, allows farmers to pay in advance for inputs at a time convenient to them. The savings accumulated in the smallholder farmers’ MlimiPay digital wallets can also be repurposed to use for other pressing needs on exceptional occasions like disasters. Currently, the service supports 1,000 active savers and MlimiPay is in the process of registering 5,000 dairy farmers in conjunction with Central Region Milk Producers Association (CREMPA), who will use the wallet to save for dairy mash. 

In the 2022/23 growing season, MlimiPay facilitated lay-by payments for over 240 tonnes of fertilizer and seeds valued at over £184,359. Additionally, the Mlimi Digital Advisor offers on-demand agronomic advice through a digital repository accessible via mobile phones when the farmers register with MlimiPay and pay their registration fee. This service includes a digital weather information feature for registered users, further aiding farmers in making informed decisions. Contact: MlimiPay Limited

With seven employees, TEREN Agro Limited is a social enterprise subsidiary of TEREN Investments, which boasts a decade of successful operations and was co-founded by Lilongwe-based entrepreneurs Temwanani Phiri and Taziona Chigwe, who hold a 50% stake each in the business. TEREN Agro was initially launched as the agricultural commodity trading division of TEREN Investments, specializing in the procurement of soybeans from smallholder farmers and exporting to high-demand markets like Rwanda. Recognizing the need for a structured growth path, TEREN Agro was registered as a limited liability company in 2022 after over a decade of steady progress. In 2023, TEREN Agro strategically diversified its product line to include livestock feeds, tapping into a burgeoning market with significant demand and supply gaps. The company, with grant support from the Centre for Agriculture Transformation and Catholic Relief Services, has invested in machinery and production space for producing floating fish feeds for tilapia at their facility located six miles outside Lilongwe city centre. Contact: Teren Agro Facebook

Commercializing Smallholder Aquaculture through Digital Innovations for Access to High Quality Inputs

This project demonstrates the feasibility of deepened commercialisation of the aquaculture sector by addressing the problem of limited access to high quality feed for fish amongst smallholder producers to increase their productivity, profitability, and climate resilience. This is expected to influence market-led incentives for investing in the aquaculture value chain by emerging anchor firms.

Through this 14-month project, CASA aims to facilitate formation of a partnership between MlimiPay, a financial services technology start-up, and TEREN Agro, an agricultural processing company which manufactures livestock and fish feeds, and smallholder farmers in Malawi. This partnership will enable the two companies to collaborate in delivering high-quality inputs and extension and advisory services on favourable terms to smallholder fish farmers. By enhancing access to high quality inputs for smallholder farmers, this intervention is expected to increase their production output volumes and reduce their transportation costs, thereby increasing their incomes. The intervention will also improve the resilience of smallholder farmers to adverse climate events by ensuring stable input prices and providing them with access to digital banking services that will enable an increase in their savings.

The intervention is facilitating the establishment of a business model where TEREN Agro sells fish feeds to smallholder farmers using a combination of lay-by and credit models while MlimiPay provides digital payment aggregation and aquaculture best management practices advisory services, enabling the smallholder fish farmers to make payments for the feed via mobile money and build their technical capacity in growing fish. TEREN Agro and MlimiPay will collaborate to mobilize and organize smallholder farmers into groups, which will serve various purposes. At a total cost of £96,156 (CASA contributing £60,523), the project expects to reach 1,000 smallholder farmers.

Mlimi Pay is looking for £50,000 in equity investment for long-term capital and to bring additional technical expertise to enable expansion of the business’s product portfolio and to reach more smallholder farmers in aquaculture and other value chains.